Recognizing Irrelevant Evidence in an Argument

Question 1

Claim: The town should build a covered bike shelter at the library. Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

Accepted Answer

The library's summer reading program signed up more than 300 children last year.

Answer

Two bikes left at the open racks last winter rusted badly after weeks of rain.

Answer

On rainy days the outdoor racks sit empty while car drop-offs at the door double.

Answer

A basic shelter costs about $4,000, and the library's building fund holds $9,000.

Question 2

Claim: Riverbend Middle School should replace paper permission slips with an online form. Which fact should a careful reader set aside?

Accepted Answer

The paper slip has used the same wording since the school first opened.

Answer

Office staff spent about six hours last month tracking down slips that never came back.

Answer

A survey found 91 percent of families have internet access at home or on a phone.

Answer

A nearby school that switched online cut its late returns from 30 percent to 5 percent.

Question 3

Claim: The cafeteria should stop selling bottled water and install two refill stations. Which true statement does nothing to advance this claim?

Accepted Answer

The cafeteria changed its hot lunch menu rotation from four weeks to six.

Answer

A waste audit counted roughly 1,200 empty plastic bottles in cafeteria bins each month.

Answer

Refill stations installed in the gym last year logged more than 40,000 bottle refills.

Answer

The district's most recent water quality test met every state drinking-water standard.

Question 4

Claim: The soccer team should move August practices from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. Which piece of evidence has no logical bearing on the claim?

Accepted Answer

The team's uniforms were replaced two seasons ago and are still in good condition.

Answer

Local August temperatures average 94 degrees Fahrenheit at 3 p.m. and 71 degrees at 7 a.m.

Answer

Three players left practice with heat cramps during last August's afternoon sessions.

Answer

The field is unbooked before 8 a.m., so the team could use it without a conflict.

Question 5

Claim: The city should paint a second crosswalk on Maple Street near the school. A writer offered these four facts. Which one is off the point?

Accepted Answer

Maple Street is the only street in the neighborhood lined with sugar maples.

Answer

A traffic count found 240 students crossing Maple Street between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m.

Answer

The nearest marked crossing sits 700 feet from the school's main entrance.

Answer

Police recorded four near-miss reports at the same spot on Maple Street last year.

Question 6

Claim: The town should keep the public pool open through September. Which piece of evidence should a careful reader set aside?

Accepted Answer

The pool's diving board was replaced during the spring maintenance shutdown.

Answer

Average local high temperatures stay above 85 degrees Fahrenheit through mid-September.

Answer

Attendance in the last week of August averaged 190 swimmers a day, close to July's average.

Answer

Two lifeguards have said they can keep working weekend shifts after school starts.

Question 7

Claim: The chess club should move its meetings from Friday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon. Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

Accepted Answer

The club's first tournament trophy still sits in the display case outside the library.

Answer

Nine of the club's fourteen members have a Friday activity that overlaps the meeting.

Answer

Friday attendance has averaged five members, against twelve at last year's Tuesday meetings.

Answer

Room 12, where the club meets, is free on Tuesday afternoons all semester.

Question 8

Claim: The math department should buy a class set of graphing calculators to lend. Which true statement does not help support the claim?

Accepted Answer

The math department has run an after-school homework help session for six years.

Answer

A survey found 3 in 5 students in Algebra 1 have no graphing calculator at home.

Answer

The state test allows graphing calculators, and two units of the course require them.

Answer

A set of 30 calculators costs $3,600, which the department's supply budget covers.

Question 9

Claim: The city should add benches along the riverwalk between the bridge and the boat launch. Which piece of evidence has no bearing on the claim?

Accepted Answer

The boat launch charges nonresidents a $5 fee to park a trailer.

Answer

The stretch runs 1.2 miles with no place to sit anywhere along it.

Answer

A survey of walkers found 4 in 10 were over age 65 and wanted rest stops.

Answer

Six benches donated by a local club sit in storage and could be installed this spring.

Question 10

Claim: The yearbook should be printed entirely in color rather than only its first eight pages. Which fact should a careful reader set aside?

Accepted Answer

The yearbook staff meets in the same room where the drama club builds its sets.

Answer

Full color adds $4 a copy, and last year's sales absorbed a $5 increase without complaint.

Answer

A reader survey ranked the color section the most-liked part of last year's book.

Answer

Team photos in black and white make rival jersey colors impossible to tell apart.

Question 11

Claim: The school should plant shade trees along the playground fence. Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

Accepted Answer

The playground's climbing structure was donated by the parent group four years ago.

Answer

Surface temperatures on the unshaded blacktop reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit last June.

Answer

Recess had to be held indoors on eleven days last spring because of heat.

Answer

Nursery-grown maples cost $180 each, and the grounds budget has $2,000 left.

Question 12

Claim: The community center should offer a Saturday morning coding class for teenagers. Which true statement does nothing to advance the claim?

Accepted Answer

The center's front desk is staffed by volunteers from the neighborhood association.

Answer

A sign-up sheet posted for a coding class drew 42 names in its first week.

Answer

The center's computer lab sits empty every Saturday morning.

Answer

A retired software engineer has offered to teach the class without pay.

Question 13

Claim: The school should replace the gym's fluorescent lights with LED fixtures. Which piece of evidence should a careful reader set aside?

Accepted Answer

The gym's bleachers seat 600 people and were installed when the wing was built.

Answer

LED fixtures would cut the gym's lighting electricity use by about 55 percent.

Answer

Custodians replaced 38 burned-out fluorescent tubes in the gym last year alone.

Answer

The electric utility offers a rebate covering a third of the cost of new fixtures.

Question 14

Claim: Dogs should be required to stay leashed in Miller Park. Which piece of evidence has no logical bearing on the claim?

Accepted Answer

Miller Park's picnic pavilion can be reserved online for a $20 fee.

Answer

Park staff logged 27 complaints about loose dogs last year, up from 9 the year before.

Answer

Two children were knocked down by unleashed dogs on the park's main path in June.

Answer

A fenced dog run two blocks away gives owners a legal place to let dogs run free.

Question 15

Claim: The school newspaper should publish online instead of printing monthly copies. Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

Accepted Answer

The paper's name was chosen by a student vote when the paper started.

Answer

Printing 500 copies costs $310 an issue, while the school's website hosting is already paid.

Answer

About 180 of the 500 printed copies were left untouched in the racks last month.

Answer

An online story can be corrected when a game score or a date changes after printing.

Question 16

Claim: The school should lengthen lunch from 25 minutes to 35 minutes. Which true statement does not help support the claim?

Accepted Answer

The cafeteria's tables were arranged in long rows when the building first opened.

Answer

A timing study found the last students through the line had 6 minutes left to eat.

Answer

Cafeteria staff collect an average of 40 pounds of uneaten food each day.

Answer

A nearby school that moved to 35-minute lunches saw afternoon nurse visits for hunger fall by half.

Question 17

Claim: The public library should stay open until 6 p.m. on Sundays instead of closing at 2 p.m. Which fact should a careful reader set aside?

Accepted Answer

The library's book drop stands at the corner of the parking lot nearest the street.

Answer

Door counters show 140 visitors in the final hour before Sunday's 2 p.m. closing.

Answer

The branch across town added Sunday evening hours and saw weekend visits rise 18 percent.

Answer

Two part-time staff have asked for the extra Sunday shifts the change would create.

Question 18

Claim: The county museum should offer free admission on the first Friday of each month. Which piece of evidence is irrelevant to this claim?

Accepted Answer

The museum's collection holds about 12,000 objects, most of them kept in storage.

Answer

Free-admission days last spring drew four times the museum's usual attendance.

Answer

Gift shop sales on those days were high enough to cover the lost ticket revenue.

Answer

A survey found cost was the reason 1 in 3 county residents had never visited.

Question 19

Claim: Students should be allowed to keep water bottles at their desks during class. Which piece of evidence has no bearing on the claim?

Accepted Answer

Each classroom's recycling bin is emptied by student helpers on Friday afternoons.

Answer

Nurse visits for headaches fell by a third at a school that allowed bottles at desks.

Answer

Only two of the school's six hallway fountains are within a minute of the science wing.

Answer

Sealed screw-top bottles have caused no spill reports in the library, which already allows them.

Question 20

Claim: The district should add a 5 p.m. late bus for students in after-school clubs. Which true statement does nothing to advance the claim?

Accepted Answer

The district's buses were repainted with a new logo over the summer.

Answer

Sixty-two students said they quit a club because they had no ride home at 5 p.m.

Answer

One spare bus and its driver are already scheduled to be idle at that hour.

Answer

Clubs at a nearby district grew by a quarter the year it added a late bus.

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Recognizing Irrelevant Evidence in an Argument

Ways to Play

Device Games: Students play on their phones

Blast Go

Board Games: Teacher-led, projected to the class

Like what you see?

Zombie Escape

Avalanche

Maze Blast

Cave Climb

Blast Out

Mystery Auction

Tour Guide

Food Truck Rush

Tug of War

Bug Blast

Alien Blast

Glacier Rush

BlastRace

BlastQuiz

BlastBoard

Seek & Destroy

Mystery Blast

Checkers

Texas Hold 'Em

Da Bomb

Castle Siege

Hot Potato

Market Mayhem

King of the Hill

Bank Heist

Top Corner

Recognizing Irrelevant Evidence in an Argument

Ways to Play

Device Games: Students play on their phones

Blast Go

Board Games: Teacher-led, projected to the class

Like what you see?

More like this

Zombie Escape

Avalanche

Maze Blast

Cave Climb

Blast Out

Mystery Auction

Tour Guide

Food Truck Rush

Tug of War

Bug Blast

Alien Blast

Glacier Rush

BlastRace

BlastQuiz

BlastBoard

Seek & Destroy

Mystery Blast

Checkers

Texas Hold 'Em

Da Bomb

Castle Siege

Hot Potato

Market Mayhem

King of the Hill

Bank Heist

Top Corner