| Critical Reasoning Butler: September 2025 |
| September 18 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 A certain laboratory is studying the incidence of fatal liver damage in rats. Sixty-five percent of all rats whose environments exposed them to low levels of the toxin sulfur dioxide died of liver disorder. Ninety percent of all rats who died of liver disorder, however, were not exposed to any environmental toxins
Which of the following would provide a feasible explanation for the statistics above?
(A) Environmental and nonenvironmental causes of liver disease in rats are mutually exclusive.
(B) There is only one cause of fatal liver disease in rats.
(C) Environmental toxins are not particularly dangerous to the livers of rats.
(D) Only a small portion of the entire group of rats studied was exposed to environmental sulfur dioxide.
(E) Most rats will not suffer from exposure to low levels of sulfur dioxide.
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CR 2 The proliferation of colloquialisms is degrading the English language. A phrase such as she was like, "no way!" you know?—a meaningless collection of English words just a few decades ago—is commonly understood by most today to mean she was doubtful. No language can admit imprecise word usage on a large scale without a corresponding decrease in quality.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?
(A) Linguists have shown that the use of imprecise language on a small scale does not generally impair understanding.
(B) Many colloquialisms that appeared in earlier forms of the English language disappeared over time as the people who used those particular phrasings were assimilated into larger groups with different language patterns.
(C) Dissemination of a new word or phrase by the mass media is an important factor in whether or not the new word or phrase will become a colloquialism.
(D) Colloquialisms are more likely to be coined by the youth in a culture than by any other segment of the population.
(E) Languages of the highest quality often evolve over time out of a collection of colloquial usages woven into the formal dialect of a given people.