Logical reasoning PrepTest 109 · Section 4 · Question 18

Incorrect. No one is discussing how these athletes play, just how they respond to wins/losses, so this answer is out of scope.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Pros act even more enthusiastic about their wins than my team, so claims that my team is unprofessional are wrong.

Answer Anticipation:
When an Errors in Reasoning question features a rebuttal, we should start by considering whether that rebuttal addresses the claims in the opposing point.

The opposing point here—the Critics—claim that the Coach's team is acting "unprofessional[ly]" by celebrating their wins too enthusiastically. To rebut this, the Coach points to how the professionals in the sport behave, showing that they are at least as enthusiastic at their wins.

Does that serve to undercut the accusation of the Critics? It doesn't. They're using "unprofessional" to mean "in a manner that isn't appropriate," not "in a manner that doesn't match up with how professionals act." These Critics could very well claim that the professionals aren't acting in a professional manner!

Since the Coach relies on a different definition of a key term here, he commits an Ambiguous Word Usage flaw.

Answer Explanation:
This answer highlights that the definition the Coach uses when talking about unprofessional behavior (acting like the pros in the sport do) doesn't match up with how the Critics use it (acting in an inappropriate manner), so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Whenever an Errors in Reasoning question asks about a rebuttal, start by seeing if the author addresses the actual argument raised by the opposing point. And if the author starts discussing a particular term used by the opposing side, start by seeing if her definition matches the one that the other view uses.

Incorrect. The Coach doesn't bring up the pros to generalize from that level of the sport to another (whatever level the Coach coaches). She brings it up because she thinks the claims of unprofessionalism tie in to how the pros behave.

Incorrect. The Coach doesn't believe that anyone's done anything wrong, so she doesn't think there is any blame, and thus she doesn't attempt to shift it.

Incorrect. The argument always discusses the team as a collective, so there's no assumption that every player is engaged in this behavior.