PLS2601 Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026 - Due 9 September 2026

PLS2601 Assignment 2 Semester 2 2026 - Due 9 September 2026 QUESTION 1: SHORT QUESTIONS: Instructions for Question 1: Write answers only for each question. The number alongside each question is the total mark for the question. 1.1 Describe briefly what critical reasoning is. [3 to 4 sentences] (2) 1.2 Identify the type of writings used in these passages (simply state them) 1.2.1 The feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan. New yams could not be eaten until some had first been offered to these powers. Men and women, young and old looked forward to the New Yam festival because it began the season of plenty - the new year. On the last night before the festival yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. The new year must begin with tasty fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year. All cooking pots calabashes and wooden bowls were thoroughly washed especially the wooden mortar in which yam was pounded (Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe) (2) 1.2.2 In order to combat rhino poaching, rhino dehorning has been proposed as a possible solution. Rhino dehorning removes the horn of the rhino, thereby removing the reason why rhinos are poached in the first place. It is definitely not an ideal solution, but at this stage, it is the best option to protect these rhinos from poaching. (2) 1.3 Identify the premise indicators in each of the following arguments below (simply state them). 1.3.1 Accordingly, the Food and Drug Administration should stop cigarette sales immediately. After all, cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death. (2) 1.3.2 “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” (Polonius in Hamlet) (2) 1.4 What informal fallacy can be identified in each of the following passages: Simply state the name of the fallacy. 1.4.1 “Who did you pass on the road?” The King went on, holding his hand out to the messenger for some hay. “Nobody”, said the messenger. “Quite right”, said the King: “this young lady saw him too. So, of course Nobody walks slower than you”. (2)