Strengthen and weaken are two sides of the same coin: the difference is only the angle from which you look at the same coin(problem).
Prompts leading to strengthen:
• Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
• Which one of the following, if true, most supports the director’s argument?
• Which one of the following, if true, most justifies the teacher’s reasoning?
Prompts that ask you what most justifies the argument are strengthen prompts, while prompts that ask you what justifies the conclusion aresufficient assumption prompts.
Also, prompts that ask you which answer most supports that passage are strengthen prompts, while prompts that ask you which answer is most supported by the passage are most strongly supported prompts. The key difference between them is: what is supporting what; is the passage supposed to support the answer or be supported by the answer?
Approach these strengthen questions just as you would weaken questions except that instead of exploiting the argument’s weakness, you are supposed to use NEW information to buttress the argument or to eliminate the weakness.
Prompt leading to paradox:
• Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the apparent paradox above?
• Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the conflict described above?
• Which one of the following, if true, would most effectively reconcile the discrepancy described above?
Before you look at the answers:
1. Paradox questions usually give two facts that appear incompatible. Single out these two facts.
2. Ask yourself, “Why one of the facts is true, even though the other fact is true as well?” Usually one the facts will fit better after why while the other fact will fit better after even though.
3. Predict a possible answer by answering your “Why . . . even though . . .” question.
Then look for the answer which best explains your “Why . . . even though . . .” question. The correct answer choice must explain why both factsmight actually be true without contradicting each other. Some wrong answers will explain why one fact is true without addressing the paradox.