Which one of the following statements most accurately characterizes a difference between the two passages?

SamA on February 16, 2020

Hello @Dalaal,

To your first question:

You asked about two question types.
1. Error of Reasoning (in argument exchage)
2. Misinterpretation

1. The example you introduced, "As a rebuttal of Giselle's argument, Antoine's response is ineffective because..." is asking for a reasoning error. Something that Antoine said is going to be illogical, or it will simply not address the argument made by Giselle. We need to decide what is wrong with Antione's argument. It is not so different from a regular error of reasoning question. The only difference is that we have to consider the relationship of the argument in question to the other person's argument. Is it a successful rebuttal? Why not?

2. "Based on Antoine's response to Giselle, he most likely misinterpreted her use of the word..." would be an example of the second question type. I understand your confusion here. In both question types, the rebuttal is not successful. However, for misinterpretation, we do not need to identify a reasoning error. We need to ask ourselves, "What is Antoine trying to dispute?" It will probably be something that Giselle never said. Antoine has misunderstood part of her argument. Which part? What did he think that she meant?

To your second question:

I cannot think of why this wouldn't be considered a bizarro parallel reasoning. I believe this is just an error on the flashcard. Thank you for pointing this out, we will fix it.

To your third question:

"Based on the passage, which of the following must be true?" With this question stem, the passage will be a series of statements. All of these statements are true. We do not evaluate an argument, nor do we add any information from outside of the stimulus. We accept everything as fact. On the basis of these facts, what else must be true?
Fact: A - > B
Fact: B - > C
What else must be true?
A - > C

This question type is generally more easily diagrammed, or more formulaic. We are often using our logical rules for quantifiers, and our sufficient and necessary reasoning.

Argument completion questions are much less common, but they are quite similar. A good conclusion is something that must be true based on the premises, so there will be some overlap in strategy. (See #2 of the argument completion practice questions). The difference, in my opinion, is that argument completion questions are not always so formulaic, nor as easily represented in diagrams. Sometimes we have to consider the author's tone and purpose, as we would in reading comprehension. We are not dealing with such rigid "true vs. false" logic. The answer is not always something that "must be true," but rather something that "would make sense."

Dalaal on February 19, 2020

Dear @SamA,

Thank you for your reply. I understood the provided explanation well, however I believe there may be a miscommunication in what I meant by my first question. My issue is not so much how to find the correct answer for the question types of error in reasoning and misinterpretation, rather more of how to actually know that the question stem is one of error in reasoning or one of misinterpretation. How to read the question stem and know that this statement is indicating that I should look for an error in reasoning or for a misinterpretation?