Below you will find help with selected exercises from the book.

5-2,4
5-3,1
5-6,4
5-6,10
5-7,4

5-2, 4. I've come before you to ask that you rehire Professor Johnson. I realize that Mr. Johnson does not have a Ph.D., and I am aware that he has yet to publish his first article. But Mr. Johnson is over forty now, and he has a wife and two high-school-aged children to support. It will be very difficult for him to find another teaching job at his age, I'm sure you will agree.

"Argument" from pity. However, notice that the speaker is not trying to convince his or her audience of the truth of a claim, only to play on their pity when they are to decide about rehiring. Although pity should not be the uppermost concern in a rehiring decision, it probably does have some role to play.

5-3, 1. Is the fact that a brand of toothpaste is advertised as a best-seller relevant to the issue of whether to buy that brand?

No. Popular toothpastes gain nothing by being popular. By comparison, a popular college is worth looking at. If a school is popular enough, it will get more applicants and raise its admissions standards; then going to that college will probably mean being surrounded by better fellow students, which benefits your own education.

Keep one thing in mind with all the questions of 5-2: There is nothing inherently wrong with paying attention to what other people believe and do. You may fall into conformism if you base all your decisions on what other people do, out of a desperate urge to fit in; but, while no one would recommend such a life, no fallacy is involved. Obedience to popular tastes counts as fallacious only if you assert or believe something to be true solely on the basis of the beliefs of others.

5-6, 4. C'mon, George, the river's waiting and everyone's going to be there. You want me to tell 'em you're gonna worry on Saturday about a test you don't take 'till Tuesday? What're people going to think?

Peer pressure. The appeal to peer pressure and related fallacies – group think, the "argument" from popularity, etc. – is made evident by this passage's frequent references to other people: other people are going to be there, will be told George is worried about a test, will think something unacceptable. But notice the mix of scare tactics in here too. "You want me to tell 'em..?" is a thinly veiled threat. In this respect you might also speak of an "argument" by force in the speech. Or maybe the real moral of the story, when you can see scare tactics in appeals to peer pressure and related fallacies, is that ultimately references to the approval of other people rely on our fear of being rejected.

5-6, 10. One local to another: I'll tell you, it's disgusting. These idiot college students come up here and live for four years—and ruin the town—and then vote on issues that affect us long after they've gone. This has got to stop! I say, let only those who have a real stake in the future of this town vote here! Transient kids shouldn't determine what's going to happen to local residents. Most of these kids come from Philadelphia . . . let them vote there.

"Argument" from outrage. The trick here is to separate the legitimate argument from the fallacy. The speaker does have an argument, based on the principle that people should not vote on issues that don't affect them. You can dispute this principle—what would follow about the right of childless couples to vote on school spending? But you would need to show the problems with that principle separately. The speaker's words also contain, however, inflammatory and biased language against students; that makes the argument fallacious.

5-7, 4. Don't risk letting a fatal accident rob your family of the home they love—on the average more than 250 Americans die each day because of accidents. What would happen to your family's home if you were one of them? Your home is so much more than just a place to live. It's a community you've chosen carefully . . . a neighborhood . . . a school district . . . the way of life you and your family have come to know. And you'd want your family to continue sharing its familiar comforts, even if suddenly you were no longer there. . . . Now, as a Great Western mortgage customer, you can protect the home you love. . . . Just complete the Enrollment Form enclosed for you.

Almost scare tactics. The advertisement plays on our fear, but mortgage insurance does protect against the danger of losing your house. Since this is an advertisement for one kind of mortgage insurance, though, we have to ask whether this danger will strike anyone who does not buy Great Western mortgage insurance.