Q7 - Tanner: The public should demand

[wj097]

Yes, the correct answer is (B). But just out of curiosity, and to confirm if I am on the right track, I wan to ask a question about answer choice (D).

We know that (D) is wrong because it is the opposite of what Saldana, the second arguer, is assuming (not saying outright) and Tanner may not have meant so.

BUT WHAT IF,
Tanner's point matched what (D) is saying? (by rewriting the Tanner's argument)

Then can (D) be a correct answer?

The point here is to know if the correct answer of Disagree Questions can be one that one of the arguers' point matches and the other's assumption disagrees.

I know we should respond with flexibility for each case of question, but here I want to be confident in case I encounter with the kind of answer choice I mentioned in the future.

Thank you.

[christine.defenbaugh]

Great thought process, wj097!

Generally speaking, the answer to an Identify the Disagreement question will often be something explicit in each speaker's comments. However, if there an an assumption inherent in one person's argument (in other words, if it is an absolutely necessary assumption for their argument to hold), then we can treat that as if it were explicitly stated.

Thus, if Tanner had outright stated that candidates with the best debating stills were those most qualified for office, then (D) would be an entirely appropriate answer. Saldana clearly disagrees with (D), since she must be assuming that debating skills and qualifications for office are not necessarily coinciding.

You clearly nailed this question, but for the sake of future students, I'm going to lay it out completely. The correct answer choice will be something that we can determine BOTH speaker's opinion on (and those opinions must disagree!). Keep in mind that any new item that the second person brings up can't be the correct answer, as the first person has not had a chance to respond to the idea yet!

Our breakdown looks something like this:

Tanner:PREMISE: Debates help voters determine which candidate is best suited for office
CONCLUSION: Voters should demand debates

Saldana:PREMISE: Debates usually help the better debater.
CONCLUSION: Debates don't help voters determine which candidate is most qualified for office.

Tanner's premise contradicts Saldana's conclusion completely. Answer choice (B) targets this issue: whether or not debates help a voter figure out which candidate is more qualified for office!

Let's take a spin through the incorrect answers:

(A) Neither speaker says anything about who is more likely to win the election!
(C) Tanner says nothing about debating skills. (We actually can't infer Saldana's opinion on this either, but that's a lot more tempting.)
(D) While we know what Saldana thinks of this (she disagrees with it!), we have no idea what Tanner thinks of the candidates with the best debating skills. It's entirely possible that Tanner thinks we'll be able to determine the better qualified candidate in a debate regardless of their debating skills.
(E) Similar to (A), neither speaker expresses any opinion on how much of an effect debates have on who will actually win an election.

Once again, great work wj097!