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Spears: Developing Critical Reading Skills
Developing Critical Reading Skills, 6/e
Deanne Spears, City College of San Francisco

Exercises

Exercise 1: Identifying Appeals in Arguments

A writer may use an emotional appeal to mask the weakness of his or her argument or to substitute for solid evidence. Read each argument and then decide which manipulative appeal it represents. The answers to the first two questions have been done for you. Here is a list of the appeals discussed in Chapter 9.

  • appeal to authority
  • appeal to pity or sympathy
  • bandwagon appeal
  • ridicule
  • appeal to fear
  • appeal to prejudice
  • flattery
  • testimonial
  • appeal to patriotism
  • appeal to tradition
  • just plain folks
  • transfer



1

Seven out of ten dentists recommend Trident gum for their patients who chew gum.
2

Ad in Food and Wine for American Express, showing comedian Jerry Seinfeld with a number of presumably new purchases--an armchair, a globe, a laptop computer, a mountain bike, and so forth: “A Cardmember Goes Shopping. The American ExpressR is welcome at all kinds of places. Just ask Jerry, who uses his Card for everyday items, as well as for the things that make him, well, Jerry. In fact, it’s so widely accepted, Jerry uses it wherever he goes. No kidding.”
3

It’s important that every family be protected by a whole life-insurance plan. After all, what would happen if you died? Your family would be destitute and would probably end up on welfare.
4

If colleges and universities continue to admit large numbers of minorities under affirmative action, soon there won't be any room for whites.
5

After the mysterious disappearance of a young female intern in Washington, D.C., Gary Condit, the California congressman who finally disclosed having had a long-standing affair with her, complained that the media were turning the story into a circus and that they were hounding him for information. He complained that he couldn’t go anywhere without being followed by the press and that reporters were camped out in front of his Washington apartment. (Condit had identified the young woman as “just a good friend,” and it was only at the third FBI interview that he finally confessed to the affair.)
6

Thanks to Megan’s Law [a federal law that allows people to view a CD at police stations containing the names and addresses of registered sex offenders], we found out that a scumbag offender has been paroled and is living just two streets away near the park. So what if he’s paid his debt to society? We parents won’t stand for any sex offenders living near our children!
7

In December 1996, Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Kevin Chang ruled that same-sex marriages are legal. The ruling goes against an earlier federal ban on such unions. (As of this writing, however, Hawaii has yet to implement Judge Chang’s ruling.) In response, Reverend Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition in Anaheim, California, said: “Losing this battle doesn’t mean that we’ve lost the war. It means that the very foundation of Western civilization is being given another wake-up call that the homosexuals want to change the culture and want to change the rules in the seventh inning.” (Quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 1996.)
8

During a strike by the pilots of a national airline in 1985, the newspapers were full of letters to the editor on both sides of the issue. Here is a representative one written by a striking pilot: “I am proud to be a member of the striking pilot’s association, and I just hope that all those people who have written attacking us for our stand are not caught on some dark and stormy night, strapped in the seat of an aircraft piloted by a scab hired at the last minute who probably hasn’t had adequate training.”
9

This was a commonly-heard argument after the September 11 terrorist attacks: Everybody, with one exception, in the U.S. Congress voted to support the administration’s decision to bomb Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The lone dissenter was Barbara Lee, who represents Berkeley. It’s outrageous that she had the temerity to vote against her colleagues. She’s completely out of step with the rest of the country, since the nation is 100% behind the bombing campaign.
10

Ross Perot warned the public against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on a 1993 TV "infomercial" called "Keeping Your Job in the USA,” saying, "If the United States accepts this agreement, so many U.S. companies will flow south that you will hear a giant sucking sound coming from the U.S.-Mexican border."
11

Store advertisement: Why not join the other discriminating shoppers and buy your china, crystal, and silver at Remember When?
12

When Oliver North and John Poindexter admitted that they were committing illegal acts when they plotted to sell arms to Iran and divert money to the Contras during the Irangate scandal, they defended their actions out of love for their country.
13

Highway sign: Stop in at Grandma’s Diner and relax over a home-cooked meal. Enjoy Grandma’s famous meatloaf and mashed potatoes in a casual, friendly atmosphere. We’ll make you feel as if you’re right at home.
14

How could an employer be so cruel as to fire a worker like Robert Gonzalez? Of course, his absenteeism has been significant, and he has difficulty getting to work on time. And it’s true that customers have complained about his rudeness. But he has seven children to support, house payments to make, and college loans to repay.
15

What was Mayor Shelton thinking of when she came up with a plan to build a shopping center along the only open space fronting the ocean in Princeton-by-the-Sea? Any idiot can see that her proposal is absurd.