English Midterm

Front 1

Comma Splice

Back 1

A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses/sentences.

For example: It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.

Front 2

Fused Sentence

Back 2

A fused sentence is a run on sentence.

For example: You must realize the truth you must try to understand.

Front 3

Fragment

Back 3

A SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. It does not contain even one independent clause.

For example: Because I said so and because it's the right thing to do.

For example: To love, to live, to laugh.

Front 4

Subject-Verb Disagreement

Back 4

It's when the subject of your sentence and the verb of your sentence don't go together.

For example: The smelly dog who was sprayed by the skunk need a bath. This isn't correct.

The verb "need" should be "needs" because otherwise it doesn't agree with dog.

Front 5

Pronoun Issues

Back 5

Using the wrong pronoun

For example: One of the ballerinas stubbed their toe during the performance.

The pronoun "their" should be "her"

Front 6

Modifier Issues

Back 6

Modifiers are those words or groups of words that "modify" or customize something. They make it special, unique, different from the ordinary.

Ordinary: car Modified: fast car

For example: Throwing a rock, the stray dog ran.

What? The dog threw a rock at the same time as it ran?

Front 7

Faulty Parallelism

Back 7

For example: Physical and mental health and wellness rest on four pillars: regular exercise, healthy diet, social interaction, and getting sufficient sleep.

Corrected sentence: Physical and mental health rest on four pillars: regular exercise, healthy diet, social interaction, and sufficient sleep.

Front 8

Comma Issues

Back 8

For example: Please bring me coffee cookies and a newspaper.

Correction: Please bring me coffee, cookies, and a newspaper.

Front 9

Apostrophe issues

Back 9

For example: Its not like I havent had a chance to succeed.

Correction: It's not like I haven't had a chance to succeed.

Front 10

Semicolon issues

Back 10

For example: The temperature will never drop; because the weather is out to get me.

Correction: The temperature will never drop because the weather is out to get me.

Front 11

Wordiness

Back 11

the use of too many words to express an idea

For example: In my own personal opinion, I think that the party should be postponed until later.

Correction: In my opinion, I think that the party should be postponed until later.

Front 12

Define: Argument

Back 12

claim + evidence

Front 13

Define: Effectiveness

Back 13

the production of desired effects in a target audience

Front 14

Define: ethos

Back 14

a writer's/speaker's credibility (=believability and trustworthiness)

Front 15

Define: Fallacies

Back 15

modes of defective and/or inapproprate reasoning

Front 16

Define: "I" attitude

Back 16

appealing to one's own needs and desires instead of the audience's (the "bad" attitude)

Front 17

Define: Logos

Back 17

appeal to logic

Front 18

Define: Pathos

Back 18

appeal to feeling

Front 19

Define: rebuttal

Back 19

anticipating, articulating, and answering an audience's potential objections.

Front 20

Define: rhetoric

Back 20

the art, study, skill, and practice of persuasion

Front 21

Define: "You" attitude

Back 21

appealing to the audience's needs and desires (the "good" attitude)

Front 22

Bandwagon Appeal

Back 22

accepting or rejecting a claim not on the basis of its merits but simply on the basis that many others are doing so.

For example: You should buy that book because it is number on one the bestseller chart.

Front 23

Ad Hominem

Back 23

an argument against the person, usually regarded as a fallacy (inappropriate reasoning) if it replaces substantive argument with personal attack.

For example: Your position on the abortion issue is completely bogus because you are a jerk and a loser.

Front 24

Circular reasoning

Back 24

repeating the claim what is already stated in the evidence, with the result that there is no progression in the argument.

For example: You can believe that I speak the truth because I am a very truthful person.

Front 25

Composition

Back 25

the assumption that what is true of the part is necessarily true of the whole.

For example: Every ingredient in this soup is delicious. Therefore, the soup is delicious.

Front 26

Division

Back 26

the assumption that what is true of the whole is necessarily true of the part

For example: The cake is spongy. Therefore, the ingredients in the cake are spongy.

Front 27

Hasty Generalization

Back 27

a generalization made on the basis of an insufficient number of examples

For example: I once met a Martian and he was very rude. Therefore, I can legitimately conclude that martians in general are very rude.

Front 28

Non Sequitur

Back 28

an argument in which the claim has no conceivable relationship to the evidence and does not follow from it

For example: You should buy my car from me because the moon orbits the earth.

Front 29

Post Hoc

Back 29

the assumption that, because one event followed another, the first somehow caused the second

For example: The day after I got married, I won the lottery. Therefore, I should get married more often.

Front 30

Slippery Slope

Back 30

an argument that suggests that a seemingly trivial or inconsequential action will start an irreversible chain of events leading to catastrophe.

For example: If you miss one class, then you will miss another, and then you will miss another. Eventually, you will flunk the course, and then you will flunk other courses. Before you know it, you will have no job, no house, no car, no food, and no future. Missing one class will cost you everything.

Front 31

Straw Man

Back 31

an attempt to burlesque, ridicule, or caricature an opposing argument (a straw man is easy to knock down).

For example: "No pain, no gain!" --If you really believe that slogan, why don't you swallow bleach and put thumbtacks in your shoes? What amazing "gains" you would make! Do you see how ridiculous your "no pain, no gain" mantra is?

Front 32

Define: Claim

Back 32

Claim = (thesis, main point, conclusion)

Front 33

Define: data/datum

Back 33

Data/Datum = (support, reasons, grounds)

Front 34

Define: warrant

Back 34

Warrant = (general assumption, linking principle)

Front 35

Define: rebuttal

Back 35

Rebuttal = (anticipating/answering objections)

Front 36

Define: qualifier

Back 36

Qualifier = (restricts the scope of a claim)

Front 37

Define: Premises

Back 37

Premises are stated assumptions used as reasons in an argument.

Front 38

Define: Enthymeme

Back 38

An enthymeme is an incomplete or abbreviated syllogism in which one of the premises is left unstated.

ex: Don't eat that mushroom because it's poisonous.

[What is poisonous should not be eaten.]

Front 39

Define: Sound argument

Back 39

A sound argument requires both true premises and validity.

Front 40

Define: Deductive argument

Back 40

A deductive argument is valid if and only if affirming the premises and denying the conclusion results in a contradiction.

Front 41

Define: Validity

Back 41

The general test for validity is this:
If one grants the premises, then one must also grant the conclusion.

Front 42

Define: Deductive reasoning

Back 42

The basic aim of deductive reasoning is to start with some assumption or premise and extract from it a conclusion--a logical consequence--that is concealed by implicit in it.

Front 43

Define: Deduction

Back 43

Deduction involves logical thinking that applies to any assertion or claim whatever--because every possible statement, true or false, has its deductive logical consequences.

Front 44

Define: Induction

Back 44

Induction is relevant to one kind of assertion only--namely, to empirical or factual claims. Other kinds of assertions (such as definitions, mathematical equations, and moral or legal norms) simply are not the product of inductive reasoning and cannot serve as a basics for further inductive thinking.

Front 45

Define: Methods of Induction

Back 45

In studying the methods of induction, we are gathering and then using evidence--empirical, observational, experimental--in support of a belief as its ground.

Front 46

Modus Ponens vs. Modus Tollens

Back 46

Modus Ponens:

If P, then q.

P. Therefore, q.

example:

If optimists are more likely to succeed than pessimists, then you should be an optimist.

Optimists are more likely to succeed than pessimists. Therefore, you should be an optimist.

Modus Tollens:

If p, then q.

Not q. Therefore, not p.

example: If the dog did not know the visitor well, then the dog would have barked.

The dog did not bark. Therefore, the dog knew the visitor well.

Front 47

Hypothetical Syllogism vs. Disjunctive Syllogism

Back 47

Hypothetical Syllogism:

If p, then q.

If q, then r.

Therefore, if p, then r.

example: If you study other cultures, then you realize the variety of human customs.

If you realize the variety of human customs, then you question your own customs.

Therefore, if you study other cultures, then you question your own customs.

Disjunctive syllogism:

p or q.

Not p. Therefore, q.

example: Either we hope for progress by improving morals, or we hope for progress by improving intelligence.

We can't hope for progress by improving morals. Therefore, we must hope for progress by improving intelligence.

Front 48

Dilemma

Back 48

Dilemma:

p or q.

If p, then r.

If q, then s.

Therefore, r or s.

example: Either we go to the circus or we go skating.

If we go to the circus, then we'll have a blast.

If we go skating, then we'll also have a blast.

Therefore, we'll have a blast.

Front 49

Affirming the Consequent (fallacy!) vs. Denying the Antecedent (fallacy!)

Back 49

Affirming the Consequent (fallacy!):

If p, then q.

q. Therefore, p.

example: If the roads are icy, then the mail is late.

The mail is late. Therefore, the roads are icy.

Denying the Antecedent (fallacy!):

If p, then q.

Not p. Therefore, not q.

example: If the roads are icy, then the mail is late.

The roads are not icy. Therefore, the mail is not late.