Question: Your little Tommy wants a slingshot for his birthday, but you shouldn’t give him one. If you do, next he’ll want a B-B gun. Then a 22 rifle. After that, it will be a high-powered rifle, and then an Uzi and an AK-47. Soon he’ll want a bazooka and after that an antiaircraft gun. In no time your home will become an armory.
Answer Choices:
a. No fallacy.
b. Missing the point.
c. Slippery slope.
d. False cause.
e. Red herring.
Answer: c. Slippery slope.
Question: This cherry pie is delicious. Therefore, every ingredient in this pie is delicious.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to the people.
b. Division.
c. Composition.
d. Hasty generalization.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: b. Division.
Question: If cleaner cars are produced, then there will be fewer greenhouse gases. There will be fewer greenhouse gases. Therefore, cleaner cars will be produced.
Answer Choices:
a. This argument contains a fallacy of ambiguity.
b. This argument contains no fallacy.
c. This argument contains a fallacy of weak induction.
d. This argument contains a formal fallacy.
e. This argument contains a fallacy of grammatical analogy.
Answer: d. This argument contains a formal fallacy.
Question: Either Kansas or Ohio is situated on the Mississippi River. But Ohio is not on the Mississippi. Therefore, it must be Kansas.
Answer Choices:
a. Suppressed evidence.
b. Weak analogy.
c. False dichotomy.
d. Amphiboly.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: e. No fallacy.
Question: While driving on the freeway a big truck cut me off when it changed lanes. A few days earlier another truck tailgated me, and yet another refused to dim its lights. The conclusion is obvious that truckers these days are as rude as they are reckless.
Answer Choices:
a. Composition.
b. Missing the point.
c. Hasty generalization.
d. No fallacy.
e. Appeal to unqualified authority.
Answer: c. Hasty generalization.
Question: Can you believe that some parents want to control their kids’ access to the Internet? Who are these autocrats who insist on imposing their views on others? This country was born in a spirit of freedom and self-determination. Countless patriots have died to preserve our sacred values. We must cherish those values! We must nurture them in our children! End all mind control now and forever!
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to the people.
b. No fallacy.
c. Red herring.
d. Slippery slope.
e. Begging the question.
Answer: a. Appeal to the people.
Question: Global warming has never been a big problem in the past. Therefore, it won’t be a big problem in the future.
Answer Choices:
a. Accident.
b. Suppressed evidence.
c. False cause.
d. Equivocation.
e. No fallacy.
Answer: b. Suppressed evidence.
Question: By accident Shelley left her old fashioned flashlight turned on all night. Therefore, it’s likely that the batteries are dead.
Answer Choices:
a. False cause.
b. Appeal to pity.
c. Hasty generalization.
d. No fallacy.
e. Suppressed evidence.
Answer: d. No fallacy.
Question: Those boarding a bus are never required to pass through a security checkpoint. Therefore, those boarding an airliner should not be required to pass through a security checkpoint.
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question.
b. False cause.
c. Weak analogy.
d. No fallacy.
e. Missing the point.
Answer: c. Weak analogy.
Question: The Bible is unquestionably true because deep in my heart I feel that it is.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to the people.
b. No fallacy.
c. Equivocation.
d. Begging the question.
e. Appeal to ignorance.
Answer: d. Begging the question.
Question: Our weightlifting coach argues with great conviction about the dangers of steroids, but you really can’t take him seriously. I’ve been told by a trustworthy source that when the coach was our age he popped steroid pills every day.
Answer Choices:
a. You, too (tu quoque).
b. Appeal to unqualified authority.
c. No fallacy.
d. Argument against the person, abusive.
e. Straw man.
Answer: a. You, too (tu quoque).
Question: My friend Connie used a green Bic pen to solve the problems on her last algebra test, and after the test was graded she got an A. So if you want to get an A in algebra, you should work all the test problems with a green Bic pen.
Answer Choices:
a. Begging the question.
b. Appeal to pity.
c. Argument against the person, abusive.
d. No fallacy.
e. False cause.
Answer: e. False cause.
Question: Nobody has ever heard a monkey talk. Therefore, probably monkeys don’t talk.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to ignorance.
b. Division.
c. Hasty generalization.
d. No fallacy.
e. Appeal to the people.
Answer: d. No fallacy.
Question: Irving is a wonderful cook. But every cook is a human being. Therefore, Irving is a wonderful human being.
Answer Choices:
a. Suppressed evidence.
b. No fallacy.
c. Equivocation.
d. Amphiboly.
e. Composition.
Answer: c. Equivocation.
Question: Jim, it’s clear that you want that job with the Acme accounting agency. Therefore, to improve your chances, you should tell the interviewer that if he doesn’t give you the job you will kidnap one of his children.
Answer Choices:
a. Missing the point.
b. False cause.
c. Appeal to force.
d. No fallacy.
e. Begging the question.
Answer: c. Appeal to force.
Question: Randy, you have a good eye. Tell me: Do you think this dress makes me look too fat?
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to ignorance.
b. No fallacy.
Answer: b. No fallacy.
Question: Practically everyone has driven home at one time or other after having had a few drinks. Therefore, you shouldn’t have any problem with driving home now, even though you’re a bit tipsy.
Answer Choices:
a. You, too (tu quoque).
b. Hasty generalization.
c. No fallacy.
d. Appeal to the people.
e. False dichotomy.
Answer: d. Appeal to the people.
Question: It’s not possible that Jessica prepared this delicious meal all by herself. Jessica is too stupid to read a cookbook, she can’t measure anything, she has absolutely no sense of taste, and she doesn’t even know how to boil water.
Answer Choices:
a. Appeal to the people.
b. No fallacy.
c. Argument against the person, abusive.
d. Appeal to pity.
e. Argument against the person, circumstantial.
Answer: c. Argument against the person, abusive.