Q13 - Botanist: It has long been

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
ID the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: People with children or pets CAN have poinsettia plants in their homes.
Evidence: Our research has shown that poinsettias pose no risk to children or pets.

Answer Anticipation:
The answer might either appear in its original rebuttal form, "the belief that poinsettia plants shouldn't be kept in homes with kids/pets is mistaken" or in its affirmative form, "you can keep poinsettia plants in homes with kids/pets".

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Never said.

(B) Premise, kinda. It was only said that they're not dangerous to children/pets.

(C) Background fact that is really opposing the author's conclusion.

(D) Yes!

(E) The actual premise.

Takeaway/Pattern: On almost every ID the Conclusion question, the conclusion is found BEFORE the evidence. It is usually the first sentence, or it appears as part of some but/yet/however Rebuttal. This one used an "although this belief is espoused by ___, it is mistaken" to introduce the Rebuttal conclusion.

#officialexplanation

[jennifer]

I was torn between d and e, ulimatly I picked E because it was a restatement of what I thought was the main conclusion the last line of the statement. Why is D correct?

[cyruswhittaker]

E is incorrect because it actually expresses a premise of the argument, rather than its conclusion.

Sentence two presents the conclusion: "this belief... is mistaken." But we need to have a clear idea of what the "belief" is, and this is found in sentence 1: the belief is that people with children or pets should keep the plants out of their homes.

So putting the two together, the conclusion could be stated as followed: The belief that people with children or pets should keep the poinsettia plants out of their homes is mistaken.

Notice that choice D is almost a replication of this, the only difference being that it says "should not have" rather than "should keep poinsetta plants out."

But here is the question: what can we apply in a main point or conclusion question in order to differentiate premises from conclusions?

For me, I find it beneficial to question whether the statement resceives support from another statement. Notice that the last sentence (which is restated in choice E) is support given to justify the botanists' claim that the belief is mistaken. As such, it is a premise, and hence we can eliminate E.

[noah]

But here is the question: what can we apply in a main point or conclusion question in order to differentiate premises from conclusions?

For me, I find it beneficial to question whether the statement resceives support from another statement. Notice that the last sentence (which is restated in choice E) is support given to justify the botanists' claim that the belief is mistaken. As such, it is a premise, and hence we can eliminate E.

That's a good question. What we recommend is the "therefore test", which is similar to what you're talking about.

Which of the following paraphrasings makes sense?

Poinsettias pose no risk THEREFORE, the belief that you should remove them from homes is mistaken.

or

The belief that you should remove them from homes is mistaken THEREFORE Poinsettias pose no risk.

It's the first one, meaning that the conclusion, the second part of a correct THEREFORE statement. is the belief that you should remove them from homes is mistaken.

[daijob]

I was not sure between B and D...
B is wrong because B is actually kind of premise for D, which is the real conclusion, right?

Thanks

[ohthatpatrick]

Yeah, the conclusion is "The belief is mistaken", so your job is to take the words that form THE BELIEF and find a way to say "THE BELIEF is wrong".

THE BELIEF = people with children or pets should keep poinsettia plants out of their homes

THE BELIEF IS WRONG = it's okay for people with children or pets to keep poinsettia plants in their homes

WHY? = research shows that poinsettias pose no risk to children or pets

(D) actually makes it easy on us by just giving us "THE BELIEF is mistaken", rather than some rephrasing like what I just offered.

Notice that nowhere in THE BELIEF is 'poisonous' mentioned.

And as Noah said above, if you're down to two answers (such as B and D), you can apply the THEREFORE test to see which idea supports the other.

B supports D.