The authors of a recent article examined warnings of an impending wave of extinctions of animal species within the ne...
HannahNgMarch 8, 2020
Answer C
Can you explain why C is incorrect? I chose C because I thought if there is any species or subspecies of NA fishes that became extinct appearing outside NA, it would mean that those types of fish have not come extinct yet.
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The problem with C is that the place of origin of these fish species is not particularly relevant. You are correct that if they appeared outside of North America, then they would not technically be extinct. However, that is not what C is implying. Just because a fish species originated in South America, it does not mean that they still exist there. C only presents the possibility that some species originated elsewhere, were introduced to North America, and then later went extinct. This does not affect the argument in the way that we want it to.
A is a better choice, because it responds to this criticism: "What if this data only applies to fish and does not represent other animals?" If that is the case, then the argument is weakened. If the data does represent a broader trend, the argument is strengthened. Either way, it helps us to evaluate the argument.
