argument2 欢迎拍砖！

zoe797970UID: 2249886

The following appeared in a letter sent by a committee
of homeowners from the Deerhaven Acres to all homeowners
in Deerthaven Acres.
"Seven years ago, homeowners in nearby Brookville
community adopted a set of restrictions on how the
community's yard should be landscaped and what colors
the exteriors of homes should be painted. Since then,
average property values have tripled in Brookville.
In order to raise property values in Deerhaven Acres,
we should adopt our own set of restrictions on
landscaping and house painting."


In this analysis, the arguer claims that the committee
of Deerhaven Acres(DA) should adopt a set of
restrictions on landscaping and house painting in order
to enhance the property values. To substantiate the
conclusion, he/she cites the example of a nearby
community--Brookville(B). The argument seems somewhat
logical at the first glance, however, it actually
suffer from several flaws.

The major problem with this argument is the unwarranted
assumption that B homeowners did enforce the set of
restrictions. The letter fails to substantiate this
vital assumption. If those restrictions were not implemented
or just implemented partially, then the changes in B average
property values cannot be ascribed to them completely.
As a consequence, the committee of DA cannot draw any
firm conclusion about what similar effects the new
restrictions would
have on DA's property values.

Another problem that undermines the argument is that
it is entirely possible that several other factors
were responsible for the increase rather than the
restrictions. Common sense tells us that there are
many crucial factors involved when concerned with
buying a house, such as the structure of the building,
the environment of neighborhood, the traffic conditions,
and so forth. Maybe the housing of B are excellent
in those aspects, then they are undoubtedly attractive
to many people. Besides these, as we know, property
values are a function of supply and demand. Perhaps
the demand for housing in B increased as a result of
an influx of a lot of extraneous employees, or the federal
government enacted a set of regulations concerning
the limitation of land use, so the supply of housing
decreased. Hence, there are many alternative explanation
for the increases of B's property values.

Finally, the arguer fails to take into account an important
factor that might weaken the reasoning in this argument,
that is the possible differences between DA and B. For
instance, the community B may be closer to the central
road compared with DA, then many people would move there
without much considering about the landscaping and
house painting. Furthermore, perhaps DA house-buyers pay
less attention to the house's exterior appearance than
B house-buyers, then they would consider the restrictions
to be money-consuming which might lead to the decrease
of the appetite buying a house in DA. Without taking
account for these differences, it is absolutely unwise
for the DA committee to draw the conclusion that what
resulted in rising property values in B would certainly
bring about the same result in DA.

In summary, the conclusion reached in this argument is
invalid and misleading. To make the letter more convincing,
the arguer should have to prove that the rising of B's
property values did result from the implement of a set
of restrictions concerning landscaping and house painting.
Moreover, I would suspend my judgment about the
credibility of the recommendation until the arguer can
provide concrete evidence that those factors effecting
housing prices in the two communities are essentially
same.

zoe797970UID: 2249886

argument 9
Fifteen years ago, Omega University implemented
a new procedure that encouraged students to
evaluate the teaching effectiveness of all their
professors. Since that time, Omega professors
have begun to assign higher grades in their
classes, and overall student grade averages at
Omega have risen by thirty percent. Potential
employers apparently believe the grades at
Omega are inflated; this would explain why Omega
graduates have not been as successful at getting
jobs as have graduates from nearby Alpha University.
To enable its graduates to secure better jobs,
Omega University should now terminate student
evaluation of professors.


A. Firstly, there is no appropriate evidence
showing the evaluation resulted in the inflated
grades.

B. Secondly, maybe there are some other reasons
why the graduates from Alpha University are
possible get better jobs.(reputation, curriculum
setting, the relationship among university and
these companies.)

C. Finally, the arguer fails to take other factors
into account which can be useful to help the
graduates to secure better jobs.


argument 15
Over 80 percent of the respondents to a recent
survey indicated a desire to reduce their intake
of foods containing fats and cholesterol, and
today low-fat products abound in many food stores.
Since many of the food products currently marketed
by Old Dairy Industries are high in fat and cholesterol,
the company's sales are likely to diminish greatly
and their profits will no doubt decrease. We therefore
advise Old Dairy stockholders to sell their shares
and other investors not to purchase stock in
this company.

A. Firstly, the arguer fails to give the capacity
of the survey and the specific condition of these
respondents, besides, he/she does not indicate
who did the survey.

B. Secondly, the arguer fails to convince us the
sales will necessarily decline, there is no clear
evidence.

C. Finally, even if the sales are diminishing
greatly, there are still many way to increase,
for example, invent some new products containing
low fats and cholesterol, reform the structure of
its product types.


argument 30
According to information recently reported in the
Eliottown Gazette, the number of people who travel
to Eliottown has increased significantly over the past
several years. So far this year over 100,000 people
have arrived on flights to Eliottown's airport,
compared with only 80,000 last year and 40,000
the year before. Eliottown's train station has
received more than 50,000 passengers this year, compared
with less than 40,000 last year and 20,000 the
year before. Clearly tourism in Eliottown has
been increasing, thanks to the new Central Park and
Museum of Modern Art that opened last year. Therefore,
the funding for the park and museum should be increased
significantly.

A. One year is too short to demonstrate the effects
of the new Central Park and Museum of Modern Art.

B. The arguer fails to give evidence whether
all of the visitors went to those two places or not,
maybe they came to Eliottown for other reasons.