State Certificate of Language Proficiency (KPG) English · Critical Reading and Error Analysis

Informal Fallacies and Reasoning Flaws

19 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 19 questions

  1. A spokesperson remarks: 'Our competitor claims their electric vehicle is safer, but their CEO was once investigated for insider trading.' What fallacy is present?
  2. An editorial asserts: 'If we lower the legal voting age to sixteen, next children will be allowed to drive trucks, and soon toddlers will run the government.' Which fallacy is evident?
  3. A politician asserts: 'Either you support our emergency national surveillance bill or you are siding with violent criminals.' What fallacy is committed?
  4. A doctor notes: 'The patient drank herbal tea every morning and recovered from pneumonia; therefore, the herbal tea cured the pneumonia.' What fallacy is present?
  5. A critic argues: 'Those who favor public transit subsidies want to completely ban private automobiles and confiscate all personal cars.' What flaw is evident?
  6. A philosopher argues: 'Capital punishment is completely justified because the state has the moral authority to execute murderers.' What fallacy is committed?
  7. A mayor states: 'Why are journalists questioning municipal road contracts when ocean plastics are destroying marine life on the other side of the planet?' Which fallacy is evident?
  8. A traveler claims: 'I visited two restaurants in Thessaloniki and both had poor service; therefore, all Greek restaurants have terrible service.' What fallacy is present?
  9. A football coach argues: 'Every player on our roster is an all-star athlete; therefore, our squad must be the greatest team in the league.' What fallacy is committed?
  10. A venture capitalist argues: 'We have already invested ten million euros in this mining concession; we must invest another five million or that investment is wasted.' Which fallacy is evident?
  11. Consider the argument: 'The law states that anyone who causes a public disturbance is guilty; this comedian caused a public disturbance of laughter; therefore, the comedian is guilty.' What flaw is pr…
  12. An advertiser claims: 'A famous professional tennis player drinks this herbal beverage every day, so it will cure joint arthritis.' What fallacy is committed?
  13. A lottery player states: 'My numbers have not been drawn in the last twenty weeks; therefore, they are virtually guaranteed to win tonight.' Which fallacy is evident?
  14. A politician asserts: 'Over seventy percent of citizens believe in astrology, so astrology must be an empirically verified science.' What fallacy is present?
  15. A book reviewer writes: 'We should reject this economic treatise on monetary policy because the author was educated in an elite Swiss private school.' What fallacy is committed?
  16. An executive argues: 'Just as a biological cell must immediately destroy defective viruses to survive, a corporation must fire employees who complain about management.' What flaw is present?
  17. A speaker asserts: 'No astronomical survey has definitively disproved that alien probes orbit Saturn; therefore, alien probes are orbiting Saturn.' Which fallacy is evident?
  18. A critic remarks: 'This architectural firm designed an award-winning hospital; therefore, every draftsman at the firm must be an award-winning architect.' What fallacy is committed?
  19. An academic argues: 'Scholars in this university have recited the graduation oath in Latin for three centuries, so we must never permit oaths in Modern Greek.' Which fallacy is evident?

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