Thank You for Arguing (Revised and Updated)
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Use the lightbulb joke to show off your knowledge of rhetorical tools and terms. We offer an answer to the first couple to help you get the hang of it. Feel free to think of your own lightbulb questions, and send them to Jay at ArgueLab.com.
Change a lightbulb using framing theory. A: Are you sure the problem is the lightbulb?
How many of Cicero’s canons does it take to change a lightbulb?
Change a lightbulb—or make a bulb unnecessary—using a metonymy.
How many ironic orators does it take to change a lightbulb?
Deal with a dead bulb using forensic rhetoric.
Deal with a dead bulb using demonstrative rhetoric.
Deal with a dead bulb using concession.
Get a lightbulb changed using the Eddie Haskell ploy.
Use an identity strategy to get others to change a lightbulb.
Use a reluctant conclusion to get others to change a lightbulb.
Multiple Choice Quiz
You’ll find the answers on this page. If you want an easy way to score yourself, go to ArgueLab.com. We’ve automated the test and (educators, take note!) put up some others as well. There you’ll find full explanations for the answers, along with a chance to tell us how wrong we are.
1. You know you’re in the midst of an argument when:
a) Someone yells at you.
b) People “agree to disagree.”
c) You and another person are trying to influence each other.
d) Your opponent clenches his fists.
2. Who creates arguments?
a) Teachers
b) Doctors
c) Bricklayers
d) Jay’s cat
e) All of the above
f) None of the above
3. Which of these counts as argument?
a) “You never lower the toilet lid! You’re such a slob!”
b) “You just committed a fallacy. Not that you’d have known it.”
c) “Apologize!”
d) “Because I told you to. That’s why.”
e) “We’re going to beat you because you’re losers.”
f) All of them
g) None of them
4. What is a consensus?
a) A compromise with a payoff
b) An agreement that both parties like
c) An unnatural act
d) Common wisdom
5. Which of these is not an argumentum a fortiori, an argument from strength?
a) “If a caveman can do it, you can, too.”
b) “Clean your room or you’ll go without dinner.”
c) “That truck made it through the tunnel. There’s plenty of clearance for us.”
d) “It’s not an extreme environmental bill. Many conservatives support it.”
6. Your argument should aim to change someone’s:
a) Character, relationships, or habits
b) Mood, mind, or willingness to act
c) Behavior, attitude, or possessions
d) Blood pressure, cortisol levels, or dopamine bursts
7. Match each rhetorical issue with its tense:
Blame
Values
Choice
Future
Past
Present
8. Match each tense with its type of rhetoric:
Past
Present
Future
Deliberative
Forensic
Demonstrative
9. The three basic tools, or “appeals,” to an audience:
a) Pleasure, fear, pandering
b) Character, emotion, logic
c) Bribe, gift, favor
d) Humor, drama, spectacle
10. Which is the most powerful tool in persuasion, according to Aristotle?
a) Logic
b) Force
c) Character
d) Emotion
11. What’s your source to learn what you should and shouldn’t say in an argument?
a) Behave as your audience behaves.
b) Act the way your audience expects you to.
c) Just be yourself.
d) Speak from the heart.
12. Which word best describes phronesis, or practical wisdom?
a) Caring
b) Craft
c) Connivance
d) Cause
13. Which word best describes eunoia, or disinterest?
a) Caring
b) Craft
c) Connivance
d) Comfort
14. Which word best describes arete, or virtue?
a) Shared comfort
b) Shared love
c) Shared values
d) Shared objects
15. To activate people’s persuadability, build your argument on:
a) Their favorite celebrities
b) The common knowledge they take as true
c) Technical jargon that makes you seem sophisticated
d) Your sense of humor
16. List these defensive tools from the most to least powerful:
a) Facts the audience believes to be true
b) Terms that benefit you
c) Description of the circumstances
d) The claim that the accusation is irrelevant
17. What’s in the argument packet called enthymeme?
a) Emotion plus fact
b) Commonplace plus conclusion
c) Syllogism plus value
d) Something found only on the Internet
18. Which does not count as inductive reasoning?
a) Story
b) Fact
c) Commonplace
d) Comparison
19. Enthymeme (deduction) or example (induction)?
a) “He’s crying. I must help.”
b) “Look at all the slackers. This place must be a hipster hangout.”
c) “Of course you should go to college! It will make you earn more money in the long run.”
d) “Kids like less and less to read books. They read 10 percent less than in 2006.”
e) “Our citizenry is unhealthy. Two-thirds of us are overweight.”
f) “He’s a dedicated worker. He puts in long hours.”
g) “There are no women characters. The author is a sexist.”
h) “The guests included a drunk, a boor, and a pedantic professor. How do you think the party was?”
i) “Look at those clouds. It’s going to rain.”
20. Match each statement with the fallacy it commits.
1. You’re either for us or against us.
a) Ignorance as proof
2. I deserve an A+ because I’m an A+ student.
b) False choice
3. Felons tend to have low IQs, so stupidity causes crime.
c) Tautology
4. If you get a tattoo, you’ll be pregnant within a year.
d) Red herring
5. Elvis was a great artist; fifty million folks can’t be wrong.
e) Slippery slope
6. Trust me, I’ve been jumping out of planes for years.
f) Chanticle
er fallacy
7. You like poetry? Do you think stars are God’s daisies?
g) Appeal to popularity
8. You can’t be part Irish. I don’t know of any Irish kin.
h) Reductio ad absurdum
9. Of course it’s safe! It’s over the counter.
i) Fallacy of antecedent
10. I didn’t steal your socks. And your shoes look dumb.
j) False analogy
21. Which of these topics is the most inarguable—impossible to change people’s minds in a single argument?
a) Politics
b) Vacation plans
c) The need for children to obey their parents
d) Driving directions
22. Which of these is a rhetorical foul—a move that ruins the outcome of a deliberative argument? (Remember, a logical fallacy may not be a rhetorical foul if it persuades your opponent.)
a) Conceding a point
b) Telling a joke
c) Sticking to the past tense
d) Attacking your opponent’s trustworthiness
23. In stance theory, you defend yourself with a series of fallback positions, starting with facts. If the facts don’t work in your favor, what’s your next fallback?
a) Definition of the terms or the issue
b) “Quality,” or the circumstances
c) Relevance
d) Ad hominem
24. Which is a rhetorical foul?
a) Flattery
b) Threats
c) Using bad grammar
d) Changing the terms of the issue
25. Which is a rhetorical foul?
a) Innuendo
b) Wearing the wrong clothing
c) Looking sad
d) Calling on witnesses
26. Which is the surest sign of an extremist?
a) Getting angry easily
b) Making an offensive joke
c) Calling a generally accepted opinion extreme
d) Owning a gun
27. Which is a sign of phronesis, or practical wisdom, in a speaker?
a) Saying “That depends” when asked an opinion
b) Telling of a comparable experience
c) Zeroing in on the real issue
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
28. Which best illustrates the virtuous mean?
a) “That’s so boring.”
b) “He’s decisive, but he still looks before he leaps.”
c) “She’s saving her virginity for her true love.”
29. Find the disconnect in the logic of this sentence: “I’ll tell you why you should buy me this skirt, Mom. Boys will think I’m incredibly hot.”
a) Between the skirt and hotness
b) Between the girl and boys
c) Between the girl’s interest and her mother’s
d) Between shopping and hotness
30. Which of these is a figure of speech?
a) You can eat the wolf, or let the wolf eat you
b) Rosy-fingered dawn
c) The cat is eating
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
31. Which of these is a trope?
a) We should back his plan—into a ditch.
b) The candidate appealed to the soccer moms and the tattoo crowd.
c) Care for a toot?
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
32. Kairos, or seizing the occasion, entails:
a) Logic and emotion
b) Timing and medium
c) Example and story
d) Goal and audience
33. Which is the most persuadable moment?
a) When the person is distracted
b) When the mood is changing
c) When no one is in the room
34. Match the sense to the appeal—ethos, pathos, or logos.
a) Sound
b) Smell
c) Sight
d) Touch
e) Taste
35. Which does not belong to Cicero’s canons?
a) Invention
b) Arrangement
c) Audience
d) Memory
e) Delivery
36. What’s the best order of appeals for a speech?
a) Pathos, then logos, then ethos
b) Logos, then ethos, then pathos
c) Ethos, then logos, then pathos
d) Logos, then pathos, then ethos
37. What’s the best outline for the middle of a speech?
a) Proof, refutation, narrative, division
b) Narration, division, proof, refutation
c) Division, refutation, proof, narrative
You’ll find the answers on this page. And be sure to go to ArgueLab.com for more.
EXPERIMENT
Snappy Answers
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
MULTIPLE-CHOICE RIPOSTES
Imagine people saying these things to you. Choose the best response. We provide hints to help choose argument tools, and we suggest choices on this page, but that doesn’t mean we’re right. You’ll find further explanations—and arguments—on ArgueLab.com.
1. “No, you can’t have the car.”
Hint: Try promoting your disinterest, or caring.
a) What if I just drive it instead?
b) Would you rather I walk at night through the unsafe neighborhood?
c) If I can’t use your car, I’ll just find one I can use.
d) But I was going to pick up those groceries you need.
2. “I own this house, so you obey my rules.”
Hint: Concession could work here, as well as focusing the issue.
a) Does the house have to obey them too?
b) You also own the dog, and he won’t obey you.
c) Understood. But I’m not sure this rule makes sense.
d) I’ll obey your rules, but I won’t obey you.
e) Actually, the bank owns this house. Should I obey their rules?
3. “So I left the toilet seat up. Chill!”
Hint: Can you redefine the issue?
a) “Chill” is right. That water is cold.
b) So you’re telling me your thoughtlessness shouldn’t matter.
c) Cool! I’ll go key your sports car and watch you chill.
d) I’ve installed a toilet cam. Your tiny little mistake is now on the Internet.
4. “Do you know what your problem is?”
Hint: Shift the focus to the future.
a) Which one?
b) Not having enough people like you to remind me?
c) Do you know what your solution is?
d) Of course! I love practicing my troubleshooting skills.
e) That depends on who’s asking and how he can help.
5. Boss: “I’m sorry, but you’re not getting a bonus this year.”
Hint: Think about an identity strategy, appealing to the boss’s sense of himself as a good person.
a) Why, did you spend it already?
b) You don’t understand. I really need that money.
c) Knowing you, you’ve figured out a way to keep me happy. More vacation?
d) Times have been tough. But I’ve been working up a
plan to increase profits.
6. Friend: “I want to vote for a third-party candidate.”
Hint: Most of the time, you can’t talk a committed person into changing his mind in one conversation; instead, think about your ethos.
a) Which one? The party that will spoil the election for the Republicans, or for the Democrats?
b) That’s the problem with you. You never act like normal people.
c) Tell me more.
d) I thought about doing that myself, but it seems the country isn’t ready for a third party yet.
e) The country’s so divided, that’s like voting for an innocent bystander.
7. Woman who looks ridiculous in that dress: “Do I look ridiculous in this dress?”
Hint: Think about your argument goal here.
a) Never. But I’m not sure that dress does you justice.
b) Which part?
c) You looked even more fabulous in the blue one.
d) Not as ridiculous as you look out of it.
8. Chair of the boring, stupid party-planning committee: “We’d like you to join the party-planning committee.”
Hint: Try getting out of the commitment while enhancing your disinterest, or caring.
a) Wow, interesting. Wait, do I smell smoke?
b) Sorry. I’m already committed to the Sit and Watch Paint Dry Committee.
c) I’d like to, but these year-end reports have me overcommitted. Ask me next year?
d) I’m really not qualified. Last month my wife asked me to pick up some canapés and I bought three large awnings.
9. Stranger in a restaurant: “You’re eating environmentally unsustainable fish.”
Hint: Don’t forget your real audience—your dinner companions. Maintain reasonable decorum.
a) Good thing I’m eating this one and leaving the sustainable ones out there!
b) You mean I’m trying to eat it.
c) Maybe, but your shirt is unjustifiable.
d) They were out of environmentally unsustainable chicken.
e) I didn’t know. Tell me what website to go to, and I’ll educate myself later.