Critical Reading

"You should spend your honeymoon in Cancun. We went there for ours and the weather was beautiful—I had a

gorgeous tan!"

1. The speaker assumes that the listener wants to

• come back from a honeymoon with a gorgeous tan.

• spend a honeymoon with a gorgeous tan

• spend time in the sun

• have a better tan

• have an expensive honeymoon

"Knitting is a waste of time. I took a knitting course at the community center and the instructor was a narrow-

minded, picky old maid."

2. What assumption is made by the speaker?

• a craft can be judged based on the personality of the instructor

• the teacher could have tried harder to be flexible

• all craft courses are a waste of time

• quilting is an interesting craft which the instructor taught badly

• knitting is an interesting craft which the instructor taught badly

"Knitting is a waste of time. I took a knitting course at the community center and the instructor was a narrow

minded, picky old maid."

3. The speaker's reasoning is an example of

• repetitive use of words

• arguing by making threats

• reasoning from explicitly stated assumptions

• attacking the personal character of the opponent

• over-generalizing from one specific case

The new wife said, "If you don't plan this party my way, I won't plan a party with you again"

4. The new wife

• lives near her mother's house

• is afraid of her husband

• avoids a quarrel by leaving

• wants to plan a very expensive party

• is usually not hard to get along with

The governor said, "You must support my bill to provide educational reform in the public schools. Voting against such can only mean that you don't care about the quality of the education received by your children."

5. The governor

• has been elected two terms

• is not dealing with the possible cost of the proposal

• has very few schools in his state that provide low-quality education

• does not often make statements that cannot be supported

• has many state officials

A television commercial says, "Buy a Krups-the superior coffee maker."

6.The writer of this commercial

• tells a possible customer much about the quality of the coffee maker

• knows exactly how the listener will interpret "superior

• wants the listener to be impressed with the word superior

• has chosen to emphasize specific details rather than vagueness

• the superior is tasty