Exam 1: Accounting As a Tool for Management

Whether a subjective claim is or is independent of whether people think it is or .

Identify for which claims, if any, support has been given in the following passage; and state in your own words the reasons that have been offered for these claims. "I served in Vietnam, and that gives me the right to speak about people who did not do their duty during that time. And, among others, that includes our current president, who used family connections to avoid ever going on active duty." -Adapted from remarks one hears from time to time

Identify the main issue in the following passage. If two or more issues are present, indicate how they are related-that is, does the settlement of one depend upon the settlement of the other? Three-strikes laws work. Once they take effect, prisoners begin asking for copies of the law, parolees from other states stay away, and first- and second-time offenders leave the state.

Determine whether the following passage is (or contains) an argument. "Gene splicing is the most awesome and powerful skill acquired by man since the splitting of the atom. If pursued humanistically, its potential to serve humanity is enormous. We will use it to synthesize expensive natural products-interferon, substances such as insulin, and human endorphins that serve as natural painkillers. We will be able to create a second 'green revolution' in agriculture to produce new high-yield, disease-resistant, self-fertilizing crops. Gene splicing has the potential to synthesize new substances we can substitute for oil, coal, and other raw materials-keys to a self-sustaining society." -John Naisbitt, Megatrends

Identify for which claims, if any, support has been given in the following passage; and state in your own words the reasons that have been offered for these claims. "The California State University trustees showed considerable foresight in their recent unanimous decision to strengthen the system's admission standards. . . ." "Public high school curricula deteriorated to such a degree throughout the state during the last two decades that English literature included courses in science-fiction and detective stories." "That's not all. Social studies courses often were reduced to consciousness-raising sessions complete with rock music and feature films." Foreign-language requirements were abandoned, along with several advanced courses in science and math. "And students could generally earn credits for working after school. . . ." "[The new standards are] certain to raise the level of education among would-be college students. And that has to be a good thing." -Chico (Calif.) Enterprise-Record

If you know how to do it, you can get your set to pick up the current given off by the twister. So your television set can be your warning device that tells you when to dive for the cellar. -Adapted from Cecil Adams, The Straight Dope

Identify each speaker that gives an argument for his or her position in the following passage. First Manager: I think it is time to change our policy on return items. From now on, let's just give customers their money back, no questions asked. Second Manager: Frankly, I don't think that will be such a good policy. Why, just last week you yourself said we should ask people why they want to return things.

Determine whether the following passage contains an argument and, if it does, identify that argument's final conclusion. "Your jacket looks a little tattered, there, Houston. Time to get a new one, I'd say."

Identify the main point or issue in the following passage, and decide whether the rest of the passage offers reasons for the main point (such as, whether the passage contains an argument), whether it illustrates (provides examples for) the main point, whether it explains the point, is irrelevant to the point, and so on. "[F]ast food and national restaurant chains… that serve it have long been the object of criticism by nutritionists and dietitians. Despite the attention, however, fast-food companies, most of them publicly owned and sprinkled into the stock portfolios of many striving Americans…, have grown more aggressive in their targeting of poor inner-city communities. One of every four hamburgers sold by the good folks at McDonald's, for example, is now purchased by inner-city consumers who, disproportionately, are young black men." -Greg Critser, "Let Them Eat Fat," in Harper's Magazine

Determine whether the following passage is (or contains) an argument. Some of these guys who do Elvis Presley imitations actually pay more for their outfits than Elvis paid for his! Anybody who would spend thousands just so he can spend a few minutes not fooling anybody into thinking he's Elvis is nuts.

Determine whether the following passage contains an argument; if it does, identify the main issue. "Because real estate is a local investment, I recommend investing within an hour's drive from your home. Personally, I invest within a half-hour drive because then I can properly manage the property and watch it to be sure it is not declining in market value." -Real estate columnist Bob Bruss

Determine whether the following passage contains an argument and, if it does, identify that argument's final conclusion. "I seriously doubt many people want to connect up their TV to the Internet. For one thing, when people watch TV they don't want more information. For another thing, even if they did, they wouldn't be interested in having to do something to get it. They just want to sit back and let the TV tell them what's happening."

"Tommy has great fashion sense" is an objective claim.

Determine whether the following passage is (or contains) an argument. You'd better not pet that dog. She looks friendly, but she's been known to bite.

Determine whether the following passage contains an argument and, if it does, identify that argument's final conclusion. "Pretzels are pretty good for a snack food. But it's wise to keep in mind that they are high in sodium, at least if you eat the salted kind."

Identify the main issue in the following passage. If two or more issues are present, indicate how they are related-that is, does the settlement of one depend upon the settlement of the other? It's clear, given the recent increases in hate groups and racial violence, that we still need the laws originally crafted to combat the racism of the 1860s. A federal court jury recently ruled that two whitesupremacist groups must pay nearly a million dollars in damages to racism protesters. This welcome message tells bigots of all types that if you violate others' rights, you'll be hit where it hurts-in the pocketbook.

Determine whether the following passage is (or contains) an argument. "The Federal Reserve Board is normally the Stealth bomber of government agencies, zooming in without warning to raise or lower interest rates and confirming weeks later what action was taken. But last Friday, in an extraordinary pre-emptive strike against a possible surge of inflation, the Federal Reserve Chairman declared that the Central Bank had raised short-term rates that very day."

The quality of a discussion often depends on how closely the parties attend to the same issue. For the passage below, determine whether the speakers are clearly disputing the same issue, or whether somebody is missing the point. A: I can't believe the student government paid John Kerry over a thousand dollars to come here and give a speech. He's been out of the news for ages, and he's clearly biased. They should have saved our money. B: Listen, George Bush Sr. has been out of office for a while now too, and he's clearly as biased as anybody. Nevertheless, people pay tons of money for him to come and speak. So lay off about Kerry.

Determine whether the following passage is (or contains) an argument. Computers will never be able to converse intelligently through speech. A simple example proves that this is so. The sentences "How do you recognize speech?" and "How do you wreck a nice beach?" sound just the same when they are spoken, but they mean something different. A computer could not distinguish the two.

An unconscious tendency to align one's thinking with that of other people is known as the