The only songs Amanda has ever written are blues songs and punk rock songs. Most punk rock songs involve no more than...

Irina on October 24, 2019

@hannahnaylor5,

Let's look at the argument structure in the stimulus:
The only songs are blues or punk rock.
A v B
All punk rock have no more than three chords.
B -> C
If the next song is not blues, it will have no more than three chords.
~A
B -> C

Taken together the argument is structured as:
A v B
B -> C
~A
Therefore, C

Let's compare it to (C) and (E)

(C)
All the pets ever owned are fish or parrots
A v B


Most parrots are noisy
Most B are C

Every pet they'll ever own that is not fish.
~A

are very noisy.
Therefore, C

The issue with this argument is that the conclusion is extremely broad, whereas the stimulus only talks about "the next song, " the conclusion here says "any pet they'll ever own.' The fact that they only owned fish and parrots until now is not determinative of all the pets they would ever own in future. Thus it is possible that they could get a pet in the future that is not a fish ~A but also not a parrot ~B.

(E) Never owned any pets except for fish or parrots
This premise is similar to the stimulus - the only pets they owned are fish and parrots.
A v B

Most parrots are noisy.
Most B are C

So the next pet will probably noisy if it is not a fish
~A -> B ->C

This structure is identical to the stimulus. The conclusion is limited to "the next pet" on the basis of the only two types of pets they have ever owned.

Let me know if this helps and if you have any further questions.