Q16 - Some heartburn-medication

[smiller]

Question Type:
Identify the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
The argument follows a common pattern: opposing point, conclusion, premises. The conclusion here is that the claim made in the first sentence is false; in other words, unrelieved heartburn is not likely to cause esophageal cancer.

Answer Anticipation:
Incorrect answers are likely to describe a different part of the argument, or to misrepresent the conclusion in some way.

Correct Answer:
(C)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This is incorrect. It identifies a premise.

(B) This is incorrect. It also describes the premises of the argument.

(C) Bingo! This is the argument's conclusion.

(D) This is incorrect. It describes what we call the "opposing point" in the argument, which is a statement that is contradicted by the conclusion.

(E) This is unsupported. The argument's conclusion is that unrelieved heartburn is not likely to cause esophageal cancer; the argument doesn't state that this conclusion applies specifically to people who see the advertisements.

Takeaway/Pattern: The correct answer to an Identify the Conclusion question will have the same meaning as the conclusion in the stimulus. Watch out for incorrect answer choices that use similar wording, but convey a different meaning.

#officialexplanation

[william.canfield.hudson]

In identify the conclusion types that have the format:
1. Somebody says something
2. But that's wrong
3. Here's why...

I used to choose the answer that most clearly expresses why that somebody is wrong.

Then I found that the correct answer is more precisely that the somebody making the original statement is wrong.

That's why I jumped on (E) because it essentially says the heartburn-medication advertisements are false. In hindsight, I see that (E) is out of scope because we don't know anything about the composition of "the people who see those advertisements".

So that makes (C) the obvious choice. But now I'm doubting whether I've been thinking about this type of problem correctly, namely that the conclusion is typically that somebody is wrong not why that somebody is wrong.

Can you help clarify my thinking?

[william.canfield.hudson]

In identify the conclusion types that have the format:
1. Somebody says something
2. But that's wrong
3. Here's why...

I used to choose the answer that most clearly expresses why that somebody is wrong.

Then I found that the correct answer is more precisely that the somebody making the original statement is wrong.

That's why I jumped on (E) because it essentially says the heartburn-medication advertisements are false. In hindsight, I see that (E) is out of scope because we don't know anything about the composition of "the people who see those advertisements".

So that makes (C) the obvious choice. But now I'm doubting whether I've been thinking about this type of problem correctly, namely that the conclusion is typically that somebody is wrong not why that somebody is wrong.

Can you help clarify my thinking?

Another example of this common situation is PT66, Sec. 4, #9. (A) is the correct answer, and it's just that what the somebody says is wrong. (B) is false because it's only saying why that somebody is wrong.

[rinagoldfield]

Super question, william.canfield.hudson.

I suggest you shift your thinking about these questions. Here’s why:

In the vast majority of cases, ID the conclusion questions just want you to find the explicit conclusion. They try to trick you by throwing implied conclusions, premises, and assumptions made by the argument into the answer choices. These are NOT what you want. You just want the author’s straight-up explicit conclusion.

The
some people say...
these people are wrong...
here’s why...

form is common on these kinds of questions. The conclusion is "these people are wrong." The "here’s why" is the premise. Chose the "these people are wrong" answer choice.

(C) is supported here. This question follows the common form outlined above, and (C) gives us the "these people are wrong" that we’re looking for.

(E) is an extra conclusion we could draw from the facts given in the argument. But it’s not the author’s conclusion.

Hope that helps!