Q14 - Letter to the editor: According

[gramila65]

can someone please go over this question for me? I'm having trouble understanding the reasoning.

[tommywallach]

Hey Gramila,

Absolutely! This is a match the flaw question, so let's start by finding the core of the prompt and locating the flaw.

Conclusion: Burglars do run a risk of getting caught.
Premise: 70 percent of people who commit crimes are caught
Burglars are criminals

The error here is in thinking that it's impossible for burglars to make up a non-proportional part of criminals in terms of getting caught. In other words, it could be that burglars make up the entire 30 percent of criminals who are never caught!

(A) CORRECT. In this case, nurses are part of a larger group about which we know something (most of them are self-employed). But it could be that nurses make up the part of professional persons who are NOT self-employed.

(B) This argument isn't flawed. It's definitely true! Psychiatrists would have both medical training and social-work training.

(C) This argument isn't flawed either. If career changes require new training, then all people who change careers require training!

(D) Again, this argument is fine. A large percentage of doctors are specialists, which requires training beyond the usual medical curriculum. This means the last sentence is definitively true.

(E) This is just like the others; it's actually a good argument as written!

Hope that helps!

-t