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CHAPTER 10: Propositional Logic-Arguments

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
AB
A
~B
a. A: T B: T d. A: F B: F
b. A: T B: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. A: F B: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

2. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
GX
G
X
a. G: T X: T d. G: F X: F
b. G: T X: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. G: F X: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

3. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
NC
~C
~N
a. N: T C: T d. N: F C: F
b. N: T C: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. N: F C: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

4. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
BT
~B
T
a. B: T T: T d. B: F T: F
b. B: T T: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. B: F T: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

5. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
NA
N
A
a. N: T A: T d. N: F A: F
b. N: T A: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. N: F A: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

6. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
OY
Y
O
a. O: T Y: T d. O: F Y: F
b. O: T Y: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. O: F Y: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

7. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
TU
~T
~U
a. T: T U: T d. T: F U: F
b. T: T U: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. T: F U: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

8. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
LE
~E
~L
a. L: T E: T d. L: F E: F
b. L: T E: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. L: F E: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

9. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
B•A
A
a. B: T A: T d. B: F A: F
b. B: T A: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. B: F A: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

10. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
B•F
BF
a. B: T F: T d. B: F F: F
b. B: T F: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. B: F F: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

11. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
ZA
ZA
a. Z: T A: T d. Z: F A: F
b. Z: T A: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. Z: F A: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

12. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
RT
R
a. R: T T: T d. R: F T: F
b. R: T T: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. R: F T: T
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

13. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
N
NT
a. N: T T: T d. N: F T: F
b. N: T T: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. N: F T: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

14. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
A
AB
a. A: T B: T d. A: F B: F
b. A: T B: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. A: F B: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

15. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
Q
PQ
a. P: T Q: T d. P: F Q: F
b. P: T Q: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. P: F Q: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

16. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~M
MN
a. M: T N: T d. M: F N: F
b. M: T N: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. M: F N: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

17. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~D
CD
a. D: T C: T d. D: F C: F
b. D: T C: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. D: F C: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

18. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
ES
SE
ES
a. E: T S: T d. E: F S: F
b. E: T S: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. E: F S: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

19. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
C•E
E•C
a. C: T E: T d. C: F E: F
b. C: T E: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. C: F E: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

20. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
M•U
MU
a. M: T U: T d. M: F U: F
b. M: T U: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. M: F U: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

21. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~I  E
IE
a. I: T E: T d. I: F E: F
b. I: T E: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. I: F E: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied
22. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~(P • I)
~P  ~I
a. P: T I: T d. P: F I: F
b. P: T I: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. P: F I: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

23. Use a truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values assigned to the
atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(C • M)  C
C  (M  C)
a. C: T M: T d. C: F M: F
b. C: T M: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. C: F M: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.1
TOP: I.B. Evaluating an argument’s validity using the truth table
MSC: Applied

24. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~S  (L  C)
(~D • ~C)  A
~L
~C  (S • A)
a. S: T L: T C: T D: T A: T
b. S: T L: T C: F D: F A: F
c. S: F L: F C: T D: T A: F
d. S: F L: F C: F D: T A: F
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.1. Where one row is sufficient MSC: Applied

25. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
[(C • X)  A]  C
C  [(X  A)  C]
a. A: T C: T X: T d. A: F C: F X: F
b. A: T C: T X: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. A: T C: F X: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

26. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(H • ~A)  I
IW
(H • A)  ~W
a. H: T A: T I: T W: T d. H: F A: F I: T W: F
b. H: T A: T I: F W: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. H: T A: F I: T W: T
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

27. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(S • D)  (C • O)
CD
SD
a. S: T D: T C: T O: T d. S: F D: F C: F O: F
b. S: T D: T C: F O: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. S: T D: F C: F O: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

28. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
W  ~B
X  ~B
(W  X)  ~B
a. W: T X: T B: T d. W: F X: F B: T
b. W: T X: T B: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. W: T X: F B: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

29. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
~Z
CG
Z  (A  C)
~G  ~A
a. Z: T C: T G: T A: T d. Z: F C: F G: T A: T
b. Z: F C: T G: F A: T e. None—the argument is valid.
c. Z: F C: T G: F A: F
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

30. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
M  ~I
I  ~M
E  ~M
HE
HI
a. M: T I: T E: T H: T d. M: F I: F E: F H: F
b. M: T I: T E: F H: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. M: F I: F E: T H: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

31. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
A  (J  S)
~J
S
A
a. A: T J: T S: T d. A: F J: F S: T
b. A: T J: T S: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. A: T J: F S: T
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

32. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
AB
BC
[(A • B) • C]  [(~A • ~B) • ~C]
a. A: T B: T C: T d. A: F B: F C: F
b. A: T B: T C: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. A: T B: F C: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

33. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(E • ~H)  G
~(H  G)
~E
a. E: T H: T G: T d. E: F H: F G: F
b. E: T H: T G: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. E: T H: F G: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

34. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(J • ~V)  (R  D)
~R
~D
~J
a. J: T V: T R: T D: T d. J: F V: F R: F D: F
b. J: T V: T R: F D: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. J: F V: F R: T D: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

35. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(J • ~V)  (R  D)
~R
~D
~V
a. J: T V: T R: T D: T d. J: F V: F R: F D: F
b. J: T V: T R: F D: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. J: F V: F R: T D: T
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

36. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(J • ~V)  (R  D)
~R
~D
~(J • ~V)
a. J: T V: T R: T D: T d. J: F V: F R: F D: F
b. J: T V: T R: F D: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. J: F V: F R: T D: T
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

37. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
D  ~W
H  ~C
~C  ~D
HW
a. D: T W: T H: T C: T d. D: F W: F H: F C: F
b. D: T W: T H: F C: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. D: F W: F H: T C: F
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

38. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(Z  Y)  X
ZW
~Y  ~W
VX
a. Z: T Y: T X: T W: T V: T
b. Z: T Y: T X: F W: F V: F
c. Z: F Y: F X: T W: F V: F
d. Z: F Y: F X: F W: F V: F
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

39. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(Z  Y)  X
ZW
~Y  ~W
VW
a. Z: T Y: T X: T W: T V: T
b. Z: T Y: T X: F W: F V: F
c. Z: F Y: F X: T W: F V: F
d. Z: F Y: F X: F W: F V: F
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

40. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
SR
~D
SD
~S
a. S: T R: T D: T d. S: F R: F D: F
b. S: T R: T D: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. S: F R: T D: F
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

41. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
SR
~D
SD
~R
a. S: T R: T D: T d. S: F R: F D: F
b. S: T R: T D: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. S: F R: T D: F
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

42. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
PW
(~D • R)  W
P  ~D
(P  R)  W
a. P: T W: T D: T R: T d. P: F W: F D: F R: F
b. P: T W: T D: F R: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. P: F W: F D: T R: T
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

43. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(B • C)  F
(F • E)  (J • P)
BP
a. B: T C: T F: T E: T J: T P: F
b. B: T C: T F: T E: F J: T P: F
c. B: F C: T F: T E: F J: F P: F
d. B: F C: F F: F E: F J: F P: F
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

44. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(B • C)  F
(F • E)  (J • P)
(B • C)  P
a. B: T C: T F: T E: T J: T P: F
b. B: T C: T F: T E: F J: T P: F
c. B: F C: T F: T E: F J: F P: F
d. B: F C: F F: F E: F J: F P: F
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

45. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
(W • ~A)  I
(A • ~W)  M
E  (~W  ~A)
E
G  ~(I  M)
~G
a. W: T A: T I: T M: T E: T G: T
b. W: T A: T I: T M: F E: T G: T
c. W: F A: T I: T M: F E: T G: T
d. W: F A: F I: F M: F E: T G: T
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

46. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
C  (P • B)
(P  E) • (B  W)
(W • E)  ~T
T
~C
a. C: T P: T B: T E: T W: T T: T
b. C: T P: T B: T E: F W: T T: T
c. C: F P: T B: T E: F W: T T: T
d. C: F P: F B: F E: F W: T T: T
e. None—the argument is valid.
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

47. Use a short form truth table to answer the following question. Which, if any, set of truth values
assigned to the atomic sentences shows that the following argument is invalid?
I  ~B
~I  ~P
G  (B • P)
~G
a. I: T B: T P: T G: T d. I: F B: F P: F G: F
b. I: T B: T P: T G: F e. None—the argument is valid.
c. I: F B: T P: T G: F
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.2
TOP: II.B.2. Where two or more rows are needed MSC: Applied

48. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
(A • ~D) • (C  D)
C
Proof 1
(1) (A • ~D) • (C  D) /C Premise/Conclusion
(2) C  D 1 Simp
(3) ~D 1 Simp
(4) C 2, 3 DS
Proof 2
(1) (A • ~D) • (C  D) /C Premise/Conclusion
(2) C  D 1 Simp
(3) A • ~D 1 Simp
(4) ~D 3 Simp
(5) C 2, 4 DS

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3 TOP: III. Proof: Inference rules
MSC: Applied

49. Which rule is used in the following inference?


A  (D  F)
(D  F)  G
AG
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

50. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D  ~E)  F
F  (G • H)
(D  ~E)  (G • H)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

51. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[A • (B • C)]  (B  D)]
(B  D)  [E  (F • G)]
[A • (B • C)]  [E  (F • G)]
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

52. Which rule is used in the following inference?


AB
A
B
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

53. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(A • B)  (C  D)
A•B
CD
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

54. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(I • J)  (K  L)
I•J
KL
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

55. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(A  B)  (C  B)]  ~(~A • ~C)
(A  B)  (C  B)
~(~A • ~C)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

56. Which rule is used in the following inference?


JR
~R
~J
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

57. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~A  R
~R
~~A
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

58. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~(F • K)  (F  L)
~(F  L)
~~(F • K)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

59. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~(A  B)  (A  C)
~(A  C)
~~(A  B)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

60. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~[E  (B • C)]  ~(F  ~G)
~(F  ~G)  [H  (F • G)]
~[E  (B • C)]  [H  (F • G)]
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: A DIF: Medium REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

61. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(Z  Y)  (Z  Y)]  [~(~A • ~Z)  (X  Y)]
(Z  Y)  (Z  Y)
~(~A • ~Z)  (X  Y)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: B DIF: Medium REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual
62. Which rule is used in the following inference?
~[(F  G) • H]  ~(I  J)
~~(I  J)
~~[(F  G) • H]
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: C DIF: Medium REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Factual

63. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
FF
F
F
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

64. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(C • T)  S
~S
~(C • T)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

65. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(U  W)  S
SC
(U  W)  C
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied
66. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(N • D)  M
N•D
M
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

67. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(M  P)  (L  S)
(L  S)  (T  W)
(M  P)  (T  W)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

68. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
[(G • R)  (S  P)]  (N • G)
~(N • G)
~[(G • R)  (S  P)]
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

69. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(P • R)  A
P•R
A
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied
70. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(Y • O)  R
R  (H • N)
(Y • O)  (H • N)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

71. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
MO
(M  O)  (F • R)
F•R
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

72. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
~~K
(Z  X)  ~K
~(Z  X)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

73. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(N  C)  (B  F)
(R • E)  (N  C)
(R • E)  (B  F)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied
74. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(H • E)  (T  H)
~(T  H)
~(H • E)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

75. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
[(P  T) • (H • N)]  (T  ~S)
(T  ~S)  [(H  E)  R]
[(P  T) • (H • N)]  [(H  E)  R]
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

76. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(R  R)  (D  ~U)
RR
D  ~U
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

77. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(E • ~S)  R
~R
~( E • ~S)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied
78. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
[(Y • A)  ~N]  (C • T)
(C • T)  (I  N)
[(Y • A)  ~N]  (I  N)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.C. Rules dealing with hypothetical forms of inference (MP, MT, HS)
MSC: Applied

79. Which rule is used in the following inference?


DL
~D
L
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

80. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(B • C)  D
~D
B•C
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

81. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D  E)  (F • G)
~(F • G)
DE
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

82. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(A • B)  C
~(A • B)
C
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

83. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(A • B)  (C  D)]  (E  F)
~(E  F)
(A • B)  (C  D)
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

84. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
TH
~H
T
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

85. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(T • H)  ~I
~~I
T•H
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

86. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
[(X  S)  (T  N)]  ~(C  R)
~~(C  R)I
(X  S)  (T  N)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

87. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(N  C)  (S  T)
~(N  C)
(S  T)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

88. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(K  N)  (O • W)
~(O • W)
(K  N)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

89. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
(W  I)  (D  S)
~(W  I)
DS
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3A
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

90. Which rule is used in the following inference?


M
MN
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

91. Which rule is used in the following inference?


FG
~A  (F  G)
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

92. Which rule is used in the following inference?


HI
(H  I)  ~(K  L)
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Factual

93. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
T•H
(T • H)  ~T
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

94. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(M  P)  (L  S)
[(M  P)  (L  S)]  (M  P)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

95. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
D•N
N  (D • N)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

96. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
~(S  N)
(P  S)  ~(S  N)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

97. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
S • ~F
P  (S • ~F)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

98. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(W  E)  T
[(W  E)  T]  E
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

99. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
E
E  [(R  F) • A]
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

100. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
Q
Q  (P • ~P)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.D. Rules dealing with disjunctive forms of inference (DS, Add)
MSC: Applied

101. Which rule is used in the following inference?


K•G
G
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

102. Which rule is used in the following inference?


L • ~F
~F
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

103. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D • F) • (K  L)
KL
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

104. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(A  B) • [C  (D  F)]
C  (D  F)
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

105. Which rule is used in the following inference?


G
H
G•H
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

106. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D  E) • F
G
[(D  E) • F] • G
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

107. Which rule is used in the following inference?


E • (F  G)
H  (F • G)
[E • (F  G)] • [H  (F • G)]
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

108. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(A  B) • (~E  G)
(C  ~D)  (F • ~G)
[(A  B) • (~E  G)] • [(C  ~D)  (F • ~G)]
a. Simp d. DS
b. Conj e. HS
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Factual

109. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
(P • Q ) • (R  S)
Q
Proof 1
(1) (P • Q ) • (R  S) /Q Premise/Conclusion
(2) P • Q 1 Simp
(3) R  S 1 Simp
(4) P 2 Simp
(5) Q 2 Simp
Proof 2
(1) (P • Q ) • (R  S) /Q Premise/Conclusion
(2) P • Q 1 Simp
(3) Q 2 Simp

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

110. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
TS
SY
(T  S) • (S  Y)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

111. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
AF
GX
(A  F) • (G  X)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied
112. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms MP, MT, HS, DS, Conj.
Identify the form.
R•A
TV
(R • A) • (T  V)
a. MP d. DS
b. MT e. Conj
c. HS
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

113. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
M
NO
(N  O) • M
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

114. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
[(X • A)  (E  M)] • S
(X • A)  (E  M)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

115. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
N  ~G
XS
(N  ~G) • (X  S)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied
116. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(S  M) • (T  H)
SM
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

117. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(C • N) • (B  E)
BE
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

118. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(T  S) • (F  I)
FI
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

119. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
R
SL
(S  L) • R
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

120. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
M•S
M
M • (M • S)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

121. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(Q  U) • (A  G)
AG
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.E. Rules dealing with conjunctive forms of inference (Simp, Conj)
MSC: Applied

122. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(E  F) • [G  (H • I)]
EG
F  (H • I)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

123. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(F  K) • (L  O)
~K  ~O
~F  ~L
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

124. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(D  E)  (F • G)] • [(E  G)  (F  H)]
(D  E)  (E  G)
(F • G)  (F  H)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

125. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(J  K)  L] • (M  N)
~L  ~N
~(J  K)  ~M
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

126. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(I  J)  J] • [(L  M)  (N • ~O)]
~J  ~(N • ~O)
~(I  J)  ~(L  M)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

127. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(I  J)  ~J] • [~(L  M)  (~K  ~O)]
~~J  ~(~K  ~O)
~(I  J)  ~~(L  M)
a. HS d. CD
b. MP e. DD
c. MT
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Factual

128. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(X  M) • (R  A)
XR
MA
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

129. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
[(S  W)  (C  ~U)] • [(C  N)  (S  C)]
(S  W)  (C  N)
(C  ~U)  (S  C)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

130. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
(P  R) • (V  V)
~R  ~V
~P  ~V
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

131. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
[(~I  N)  (D • A)] • [(S  M)  (E • R)]
~(D • A)  ~(E • R)
~(~I  N)  ~(S  M)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

132. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
[(~S  U)  (T  E)] • [(D  E)  ~N]
(~S  U)  (D  E)
(T  E)  ~N
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

133. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
~T  ~(C  E)
[(N  E)  T] • [(T  N)  (C  E)]
~(N  E)  ~(T  N)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

134. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
[(S  P)  (C  I)] • [(F  ~C)  M]
(S  P)  (F  ~C)
(C  I)  M
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

135. The following argument is an instance of one of the five inference forms Simp, Conj, Add, CD, DD.
Identify the form.
{[(R  R)  R]  S} • [(P  H)  (L  S)]
[(R  R)  R]  (P  H)
S  (L  S)
a. Simp d. CD
b. Conj e. DD
c. Add
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.3B
TOP: III.F. Rules dealing with dilemmas (CD, DD) MSC: Applied

136. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
HS
HR
H
SR
Proof 1
(1) H  S Premise
(2) H  R Premise
(3) H /S  R Premise/Conclusion
(4) H  H 3 Taut
(5) (H  S) • (H  R) 1, 2 Conj
(6) S  R 4, 5 CD
Proof 2
(1) H  S Premise
(2) H  R Premise
(3) H /S  R Premise/Conclusion
(4) S 1, 3 MP
(5) S  R 4 Add

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

137. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
~(C  D)
CA
~A  B
B • ~D
Proof 1
(1) ~(C  D) Premise
(2) C  A Premise
(3) ~A  B /B • ~D Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~C • ~D 1 DM
(5) ~C 4 Simp
(6) ~D 4 Simp
(7) A 2, 5 DS
(8) ~~A 7 DN
(9) B 3, 8 DS
(10) B • ~D 6, 9 Conj
Proof 2
(1) ~(C  D) Premise
(2) C  A Premise
(3) ~A  B /B • ~D Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~C • ~D 1 DM
(5) ~C 4 Simp
(6) ~D 4 Simp
(7) A 2, 5 DS
(8) B 3, 7 DS
(9) B • ~D 6, 8 Conj

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

138. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
AB
~~A  D
~D • C
G•E
B•G
Proof 1
(1) A  B Premise
(2) ~~A  D Premise
(3) ~D • C Premise
(4) G • E /B • G Premise/Conclusion
(5) ~D 3 Simp
(6) ~~A 2, 5 DS
(7) A 6 DN
(8) (A  B) • (B  A) 1 Bicon
(9) A  B 8 Simp
(10) B 7, 9 MP
(11) G 4 Simp
(12) B • G 10, 11 Conj
Proof 2
(1) A  B Premise
(2) ~~A  D Premise
(3) ~D • C Premise
(4) G • E /B • G Premise/Conclusion
(5) (A  B) • (B  A) 1 Bicon
(6) A  B 5 Simp
(7) B  A 5 Simp
(8) ~D 3 Simp
(9) C 3 Simp
(10) G 4 Simp
(11) E 4 Simp
(12) A  D 2 DN
(13) A 8, 12 DS
(14) B 6, 13 MP
(15) B • G 10, 14 Conj

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

139. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
(R  B)  (M • N)
BC
~(C  A)
N
Proof 1
(1) (R  B)  (M • N) Premise
(2) B  C Premise
(3) ~(C  A) /N Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~C • ~A 3 DM
(5) ~C 4 Simp
(6) B 2, 5 DS
(7) R  B 6 Add
(8) M • N 1, 7 MP
(9) N 8 Simp
Proof 2
(1) (R  B)  (M • N) Premise
(2) B  C Premise
(3) ~(C  A) /N Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~C • ~A 3 DM
(5) ~C 4 Simp
(6) B 2, 5 DS
(7) B  R 6 Add
(8) M • N 1, 7 MP
(9) N 8 Simp

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

140. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
~(B • ~ D)
DC
B•B
CE
Proof 1
(1) D  C Premise
(2) ~(B • ~ D) Premise
(3) B • B /C  E Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~B  ~~D 2 DM
(5) B 3 Taut
(6) ~~B 5 DN
(7) ~~D 4, 6 DS
(8) D 7 DN
(9) (D  C) • (C  D) 1 Bicon
(10) D  C 9 Simp
(11) C 8, 10 MP
(12) C  E 11 Add
Proof 2
(1) D  C Premise
(2) ~(B • ~ D) Premise
(3) B • B /C  E Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~B  ~~D 2 DM
(5) B 3 Simp
(6) ~~B 5 DN
(7) ~~D 4, 6 DS
(8) D 7 DN
(9) (D  C) • (C  D) 1 Bicon
(10) D  C 9 Simp
(11) C 8, 10 MP
(12) C  E 11 Add

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

141. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
~~I
~(W  I)  (C • M)
M
Proof 1
(1) ~~I Premise
(2) ~(W  I)  (C • M) /M Premise/Conclusion
(3) (W  I)  (C • M) 2 Imp
(4) ~W  I 1 Add
(5) W  I 4 Imp
(6) C • M 3, 5 MP
(7) M 6 Simp
Proof 2
(1) ~~I Premise
(2) ~(W  I)  (C • M) /M Premise/Conclusion
(3) (W  I)  (C • M) 2 Imp
(4) I 1 DN
(5) ~W  I 4 Add
(6) W  I 5 Imp
(7) C • M 3, 6 MP
(8) M 7 Simp

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

142. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
(P  R)  C
C  ~R
Proof 1
(1) (P  R)  C /C  ~R Premise/Conclusion
(2) ~(P  R)  C 1 Imp
(3) (~P • ~R)  C 2 DM
(4) C  (~P • ~R) 3 Com
(5) (C  ~P) • (C  ~R) 4 Dist
(6) C  ~R 5 Simp
Proof 2
(1) (P  R)  C /C  ~R Premise/Conclusion
(2) ~(P  R)  C 1 Imp
(3) (~P • ~R)  C 2 DM
(4) (~P  C) • (~R  C) 3 Dist
(5) ~R  C 4 Simp
(6) C  ~R 5 Com
a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4 TOP: IV. Proof: Equivalence rules
MSC: Applied

143. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~(A  B)
~A • ~B
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

144. Which rule is used in the following inference?


D
DD
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

145. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~[(J • K) • ~I]
~(J • K)  ~~I
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

146. Which rule is used in the following inference?


A  ~(B • ~D)
[A  ~(B • ~D)]  [A  ~(B • ~D)]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual
147. Which rule is used in the following inference?
~[(E  F) • (G  H)]
~(E  F)  ~(G  H)]
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

148. Which rule is used in the following inference?


Q
~~Q
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

149. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~~(D • F)
D•F
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

150. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~(R  S)  [~O • (P  Q )]
~(R  S)  [~O • (~~P  Q )]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

151. Which rule is used in the following inference?


R•S
S•R
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

152. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(F • G)  (H  I)
(H  I)  (F • G)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

153. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(P  Q )  R
P  (Q  R)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

154. Which rule is used in the following inference?


A • (B  C)
(A • B)  (A • C)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

155. Which rule is used in the following inference?


Q  (~P • R)
(Q  ~P) • (Q  R)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

156. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(~A  B)  [~(C  D) • (D  B)]
(~A  B)  [(~C • ~D) • (D  B)]
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

157. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[A • (B • C)]  D
[(A • B) • C]  D
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

158. Which rule is used in the following inference?


{M • [(N  Q )  C]}  D
{M • [N  (Q  C)]}  D
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

159. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(F • G)  (~F • ~G)]  (G  H)
(F • G)  [(~F • ~G)  (G  H)]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

160. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(M  N)  (~L • K)
[(M  N)  ~L] • [(M  N)  K]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

161. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[E  (F • G)]  (H  J)
[(E  F) • (E  G)]  (H  J)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

162. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(A  B)  [B • (C  D)]
[(A  B)  B] • [(A  B)  (C  D)]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Factual

163. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
A  (M  N)
(M  N)  A
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

164. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
R  (T • M)
(R  T) • (R  M)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

165. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(M  C)  F
(M  C)  ~~F
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

166. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(N  E)  (U • U)
(N  E)  U
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

167. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(A • G) • O
A • (G • O)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

168. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(D  I)  (~T  N)
(D  I)  (N  ~T)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

169. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(G  U)  (I  E)
(~~G  U)  (I  E)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

170. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(D  H)  E
D  (H  E)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

171. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(H • S)  (E  P)
(H • S)  [(E  P) • (E  P)]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

172. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
~E  (N • T)
(~E  N) • (~E  T)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

173. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(M • D)  T
(D • M)  T
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

174. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(P  B)  (L  E)
P  [B  (L  E)]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

175. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(H  H)  (M • Q)
H  (M • Q)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

176. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(S  P)  (H  R)
[(S  P)  H]  R
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

177. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(G  R) • (E  S)
[(G  R) • E]  [(G  R) • S]
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

178. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(N  O)  E
E  (N  O)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied
179. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(T • S)  (R • ~U)
(T • S)  (~U • R)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

180. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
[A • (C  Q)]  (I • R)
[(A • C)  (A • Q)]  (I • R)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

181. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(D  G)  (E • E)
(D  G)  E
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

182. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(P  I)  (R  S)
(P  I)  (S  R)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

183. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(M  G)  (I • T)
(I • T)  (M  G)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

184. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
P
PP
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

185. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(~N  D)  (T • K)
[(~N  D)  T] • [(~N  D)  K)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

186. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
(N • A)  (T  ~C)
(A • N)  (T  ~C)
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

187. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules Taut, DN, Com, Assoc,
Dist. Identify the rule.
~W • O
~~~W • O
a. Taut d. Assoc
b. DN e. Dist
c. Com
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

188. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~(A  M)
~A • ~M
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

189. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~(B • ~T)
~B  ~~T
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

190. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(~I  ~E) • (~D  F)
~(I • E) • (~D  F)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

191. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(M  P)  ~(L • D)
(M  P)  (~L  ~D)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied
192. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~(R  U)  ~(T  O)
~[(R  U) • (T  O)]
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

193. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~(A  ~A)
~A • ~~A
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

194. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(D  I)  (~T • ~~S)
(D  I)  ~(T  ~S)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: 10.4A
TOP: IV.C. Rules dealing with conjunctions, disjunctions, and negations (Com, Assoc, Taut, DN,
Dist, DM) MSC: Applied

195. Which rule is used in the following inference?


FG
~G  ~F
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

196. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~H  K
~K  ~~H
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

197. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D • F)  G
~G  ~(D • F)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

198. Which rule is used in the following inference?


KL
~K  L
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

199. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(D  E)  F
~(D  E)  F
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

200. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(P • Q )  E]  N
~[(P • Q )  E]  N
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

201. Which rule is used in the following inference?


~(A  B)  [C • (D  F)]
~~(A  B)  [C • (D  F)]
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

202. Which rule is used in the following inference?


MN
(M  N) • (N  M)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

203. Which rule is used in the following inference?


(K • ~L)  (~K • ~~L)
K  ~L
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

204. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(E  F)  (G  H)] • [(G  H)  (E  F)]
(E  F)  (G  H)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

205. Which rule is used in the following inference?


D  (E  F)
(D • E)  F
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

206. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(M • N)  ~(N • ~R)]  S
[(M • N)  (N  R)]  S
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Medium REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

207. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(A  B) • ~(C • ~D)]  [~(A  B) • ~~(C • ~D)]
(A  B)  ~(C • ~D)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Medium REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

208. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(A  B) • C]  D
(A  B)  (C  D)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

209. Which rule is used in the following inference?


{[E  (A  B)] • C}  ~D
[E  (A  B)]  (C  ~D)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual

210. Which rule is used in the following inference?


[(I  J) • (K  L)]  (J  L)
(I  J)  [(K  L)  (J  L)]
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Medium REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Factual
211. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(S  ~C) • E
(~~C  ~S) • E
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

212. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(A • E)  S
A  (E  S)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

213. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(T  S)  N
~N  ~(T  S)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

214. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
CU
(C  U) • (U  C)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

215. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
DI
~D  I
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

216. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~F  Y
~(~F • ~Y)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

217. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(O  Y) • (Y  O)
OY
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

218. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(~L  D)  (G • ~E)
(L  D)  (G • ~E)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

219. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
C  [D  (L  ~E)]
(C • D)  (L  ~E)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

220. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(L  ~I)  (G  M)
~(L • ~~I)  (G  M)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

221. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(E  S)  (P • C)
~(P • C)  ~(E  S)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

222. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(C  N)  ~(T • ~E)
(C  N)  (T  E)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

223. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
~S  ~(~G  U)
(~G  U)  S
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied
224. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(A  ~W) • M
[(A • ~W)  (~A • ~~W)] • M
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

225. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(H  ~S)  [D  ~(T  Z)]
[(H  ~S) • D]  ~(T  Z)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

226. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(N  E)  (X  N)
(N  E)  (~X  N)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

227. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(P • ~P)  Q
P  (~P  Q)
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: E DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

228. The following argument is an instance of one of the five equivalence rules DM, Contra, Imp, Bicon,
Exp. Identify the rule.
(B  ~B) • (~B  B)
B  ~B
a. DM d. Bicon
b. Contra e. Exp
c. Imp
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.4B
TOP: IV.D. Rules dealing with conditionals and biconditionals (Contra, Imp, Bicon, Exp)
MSC: Applied

229. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
~A
(A • B)  C
Proof 1
(1) ~A /(A • B)  C Premise/Conclusion
(2) ~A  (B  C) 1 Add
(3) A  (B  C) 2 Imp
(4) (A • B)  C 3 Exp
Proof 2
(1) ~A /(A • B)  C Premise/Conclusion
(2) A • B Assumption
(3) ~C Assumption
(4) A 2 Simp
(5) A • ~A 1, 4 Conj
(6) C 3–5 RA
(7) (A • B)  C 2–6 CP

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.5
TOP: V. Conditional proof and reductio ad absurdum MSC: Applied

230. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
A  (B  C)
B  (~C  ~A)
Proof 1
(1) A  (B  C) /B  (~C  ~A) Premise/Conclusion
(2) (A • B)  C 1 Exp
(3) (B • A)  C 2 Com
(4) B  (A  C) 3 Exp
(5) B  (~C  ~A) 4 Contra
Proof 2
(1) A  (B  C) /B  (~C  ~A) Premise/Conclusion
(2) B Assumption
(3) A Assumption
(4) B  C 1, 3 MP
(5) C 2, 4 MP
(6) A  C 3–5 CP
(7) B  (A  C) 2–6 CP
(8) B  (~C  ~A) 7 Contra
a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: 10.5
TOP: V. Conditional proof and reductio ad absurdum MSC: Applied

231. Which, if any, of the following proofs are correct demonstrations of the validity of this argument?
(A • B)  C
~(C  D)
A
~B
Proof 1
(1) (A • B)  C Premise
(2) ~(C  D) Premise
(3) A /~B Premise/Conclusion
(4) ~C • ~D 2 DM
(5) ~(A • B) 1, 4 MT
(6) ~A  ~B 5 DM
(7) ~~A 3 DN
(8) ~B 6, 7 DS
Proof 2
(1) (A • B)  C Premise
(2) ~(C  D) Premise
(3) A /~B Premise/Conclusion
(4) B Assumption
(5) A • B 3, 4 Conj
(6) C 1, 5 MT
(7) C  D 6 Add
(8) (C  D) • ~(C  D) 2, 7 Conj
(9) ~B 4–8 RA

a. Proof 1
b. Proof 2
c. Proofs 1 and 2
d. Neither proof
e. Not enough information is provided because proofs are incomplete.
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: 10.5
TOP: V. Conditional proof and reductio ad absurdum MSC: Applied
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The discomposure of the solicitor and the nervous tension of the
advocate were intruded upon at last by the constable, who had taken
rather more than three-quarters of an hour to perform his mission.
“Will you come this way, gentlemen?” he said.
They were conducted along more dark and apparently interminable
passages, up one flight of stone steps and down two others, until at
last they found themselves in a room similar to the one they had left,
except that it was larger and gloomier, smelt rather more poisonous,
and looked somewhat more funereal.
Northcote’s heart was again beating violently as he stepped over its
threshold, and his excitement was not in the least allayed when he
discovered that there was no one in it.
“If you will kindly take a seat, gentlemen,” said their guide, “Harrison
will be here in a few minutes.”
“In other words, twenty,” said Mr. Whitcomb, beginning a tour of
inspection of this dismal apartment. “These small mementoes may
have some slight interest for you, my friend,” he said to Northcote.
He drew the young man’s attention to a row of shelves placed at
right angles to the window. They were raised tier upon tier to the
height of the ceiling, and were crammed with crude staring objects. A
close inspection revealed them to be busts made of plaster of Paris.
“Why, what are these horrible things supposed to represent?” said
Northcote, with a thrill in his voice.
“These,” said Mr. Whitcomb cheerfully, “are the casts taken after
death of a number of ladies and gentlemen who have had the
distinction of being hanged within the precincts of this jail during the
past hundred years. If you will examine them closely, you will be able
to observe the indentation of the hangman’s rope, which has been
duly imprinted on the throat of each individual. Also, you may discern
the mark of the knot under the left ear. Interesting, are they not? The
official mind is generally able to exhibit itself in quite an amiable light
when it stoops to the æsthetic.”
“I call it perfectly devilish,” said Northcote, shuddering with horror.
“They must have quite a peculiar scientific interest,” said Mr.
Whitcomb, “for each lady or gentleman who may chance to enter this
apartment to consult his or her legal adviser. Are you able to
recognize any of these persons of distinction? If I am not mistaken,
the elderly gentleman on the third row on the right towards the door
is no less an individual than Cuttell, who poisoned a whole family at
Wandsworth. High-minded and courteous person as he undoubtedly
was, I must say Cuttell certainly looks less outré now he is dead, and
more in harmony with his surroundings, than when he entered this
room, and asked me in a mincing tone, with all the aitches
misplaced, whether in my opinion any obstacle would be raised
against his getting his evening clothes out of pawn, as he desired to
wear them in the dock during his trial.”
“For the love of pity, spare me!” cried Northcote, pressing his fingers
into his ears, “or I shall run away.”
“The gentleman with the protruding lip on the second shelf towards
the window is, unless my eyes deceive me, one Bateman, who
slaughtered his maiden aunt with a chopper and buried her in a drain
—”
Northcote spared himself further details in the history of Mr. Bateman
by laying violent hands upon his counterfeit presentment, and hurling
it with terrific force against the iron window bar, whence it fell to the
floor in a thousand pieces.
“Upon my soul, I have a great mind to go through the lot,” he said,
livid with fury.
“Pray do so, by all means, dear boy,” said Mr. Whitcomb, with that
unction which never forsook him, “and you will find your art-loving
countrymen will avenge this outrage upon the private and peculiar
form of their culture by one day insisting that your own effigy is
placed on these historic shelves.”
XIX
THE ACCUSED

Renewed assaults upon these interesting objets d’art were averted


by sounds outside in the corridor. Northcote imposed a superhuman
control on all his faculties that his agitation might be restrained, when
the door opened and two shadowy figures, barely visible at first,
crept silently into the darkness of the room.
The two figures were those of women. By the time Northcote had
evoked a sufficient force of will to meet their outline, the one that first
encountered his glance was so brutalized and repulsive that his eyes
were detained with a fascinated sense of horror. It belonged to a
creature that was degraded, squat, coarse, insensitive. He felt
almost the same reluctance in approaching it as he would a cobra.
She, however, was not the one whom Mr. Whitcomb, with all the
polished readiness of the thoroughgoing man of the world, had
advanced to meet, and to whom he had held out his hand. The
young man heard with stupefaction, while his own gaze remained
riveted to the features of the sibyl, the bland and courtier-like tones
of the solicitor caressing and paying homage to a figure in the
background, a figure which was still and silent, which he could not
see.
This person, however, had no interest for Northcote; she was so
obviously the female warder who had accompanied the murderess.
One so characterless, so formless, could not be said to exist in the
presence of this detaining horror, whose personality thickened, as
with pestilence, the noisome air of the room. And it was this obscene
life that he had pledged himself to save!
Strangely, this blunt fact did not dominate his consciousness in the
manner it must have done one of a less alert perception. For with a
perversity that transcended the will, at this moment his thoughts
were overspread by the comedy that was being enacted by the
suave lips of the solicitor. The harmonious stream of mellow
commonplaces that Mr. Whitcomb was pouring into the ear of the
shrinking official nonentity who kept in the background accosted his
sense of the comic with a kind of lugubrious irony. With a critical
detachment which even startled himself, he seemed to awake to the
fact that he was standing outside his milieu, that he was witnessing a
drama within a drama; and he found himself in possession of the
singular reflection that here was a robust yet delicate adumbration of
the farcical which would make the fortune of a writer for the stage.
For there was something indescribably ludicrous in the rich voice of
the solicitor enunciating his own private opinions upon the weather,
the state of trade, the inconvenience of winter and its bearing upon
the perennial problem of the unemployed, when the grotesque horror
which dominated the room was at his elbow, emitting the glances of
a venomous snake.
Suddenly Northcote heard Mr. Whitcomb call his name.
“Come here, Mr. Northcote; I want to introduce you.”
In a hazy, stupefied manner the young man obeyed.
“Mrs. Harrison,” said the solicitor, “allow me to present my friend Mr.
Northcote. I feel sure you will find a friend in him too.”
The advocate grew aware that a weak, nerveless hand was resting
in his, but his eyes were still riveted on the face of the ghoul.
“Say something, you fool, and play up a bit,” said the solicitor’s calm
voice in his ear.
“Er—a nice day, Mrs. Harrison,” said the young man, without
knowing a word he was uttering.
“Yes,” said a hesitating voice, which by no possibility could have
proceeded from the tightly closed lips of the creature whom his gaze
was devouring.
The words broke the illusion at a blow. The brutalized countenance
under whose dominion he had fallen was that of the female warder.
The person with whom the solicitor had been conversing with such
cheerful volubility, to whom he was now himself speaking, was the
poisoner, the cold-blooded denizen of the curb and the gutter. He
drew his hand away quickly, with an involuntary emotion, from those
hot, flabby, and damp fingers that he still detained.
“I know, I know,” the woman seemed to breathe, as though she were
interpreting an unspoken thought.
“I may tell you, Mrs. Harrison,” said the solicitor, with his well-fed
chuckle, “that if your knowledge can compare with that of this
gentleman, you are one of the wisest persons in the world. He will
tell you so himself.”
So crude a gibe had the happy effect of restoring to Northcote his
self-possession.
“My name is not known, Mrs. Harrison,” he said, with his fibres
stiffening, and his voice growing deeper and falling under control,
“but you can trust me to eke out my inexperience with a
determination to serve you to the utmost of my power.”
Northcote saw that two luminous orbs were being defined slowly in
the centre of the gloom. For an instant no reply was made to his
words, and then he was conscious that a faint voice was whispering,
“If your friend would go right away with the warder—right away to the
end of the room, then perhaps we could speak with one another here
where it is so dark.”
“Whitcomb,” said Northcote, in a low tone, “please take the warder
right up to the window at the other end, where you can see to read,
and read the Law Journal to her.”
“How d’ye do, ma’am,” said the solicitor, turning to the ghoul in his
promptest, blandest, and most musical manner. “I think it has been
my privilege to meet you before, although you may not remember
me. Is that boy of yours prospering in the police force?”
“I haven’t got a boy in the police force,” said the sibyl, in a loud,
strident tone.
“Then which of your blood relations is it, may I ask, who is connected
with the police force? I am sure you have some one.”
“I have an uncle.”
“Ah, to be sure, an uncle! But it is so easy to make a mistake on a
point of official nepotism. Come along this way, ma’am, and tell me
all about your uncle.”
XX
THE INTERVIEW

Prisoner and advocate were left together amid recesses of


impenetrable gloom in the darkest corner of the large apartment. It
seemed to enfold them, and to render the pallor of their faces almost
invisible. The eyes alone encountered those of each other, and even
these could embody no phase of meaning. A strange continence, as
sharp and clean as that of a hero of fable, had begun to cleanse the
veins of the advocate. In the presence of this stealthy thing his
nature had never seemed so fine, so valiant, so full of subtle
penetration; nor had it ever felt so girt with mastery, so completely
enamored of its own security.
“I shall know what words to speak to-morrow,” he said, in a hoarse
undertone.
“Will they not be spoken for yourself?” whispered the dismal low
voice.
“How? In what manner?”
“You will speak to make a name.”
“Also for the salvation of yours.”
“Mine does not matter; it is not my own.”
“You trust me, do you not?”
“I trust you; yet you drew your hand away so quickly when you knew
it was not the warder who was the murderess. Give it to me again.”
There was something so curious in the prisoner’s fragility, something
so strange in her cowed air, that it seemed to pervade the advocate
with the stealth of a drug. But the emotion of disgust with which he
had withdrawn his hand when first he grew conscious that he
touched her was no longer present when he offered it again. The
second time she clasped her fingers round it so that their pressure
seemed to sear his skin. It had the heat of a live coal.
In releasing his hand she let her fingers yield it so imperceptibly that
he did not know the precise point at which it had ceased to be held;
and he was afraid to make a motion of withdrawal, lest it should be
interpreted as a repetition of that which had dealt her a wound. He
tried to see her face, but in the darkness there was no lineament to
decipher.
“This is my deliverer,” he heard her breathe.
“How have you come to know it?” The advocate was devoured by an
intolerable curiosity.
“Your hands—your hands, they are so powerful; are you not so
strong?”
There was nothing in these words that the advocate had expected;
the voice, the manner of their utterance, their apparent irrelevance,
made a strange effect in his ears.
“They will not do me to death,” she said, in a tone he could hardly
hear. “I never tasted life until I was brought into prison. And you
cannot think how sweet it is to me. Everything has become so
beautiful: the birds, the trees, and the sky, and the crowds of people
and the mud of the great city.”
She clutched the hand of the young advocate with a convulsive
shudder.
“Your quietness tells me that you understand.” Her voice was
touched with ecstasy. “You do not answer or seek to console me.
You are the one I have dreamed of in prison. Where is your hand?”
Again Northcote yielded to her entreaty, this time without a sense of
repulsion.
“Yes, this is the hand that has been around me in the darkness,
when I have shuddered in my dreams.”
“It is wonderful,” said Northcote, “that you should know that you will
be able to lean upon me.”
“I know what your voice is like also, although it is so vague and
distant to me now. I know the words it will speak to-morrow, when it
asks them to be merciful. I know that all I have seen in my dreams
will take place.”
“It must be a grievous thing to go to sleep in a prison,” said
Northcote, uttering a half-formed thought without consideration of his
words. “Or perhaps it is more dreadful to awaken in one.”
“The going to sleep and the awakening are not so terrible as the
dreams that come. That in which I saw you first, in which I first heard
your voice, in which I first touched the hand that will deliver me, was
most dreadful in its nature. My weak mind fell down under it. I think I
could not live through such a vision again.”
“How strange are these visitations!” said Northcote. “How awful, how
mysterious! When did this dream come to you?”
“Last night about the hour of ten; the first time I had closed my eyes
for three days.”
Northcote recoiled with a shudder. The precision of the voice and the
power of the coincidence were overmastering.
“There is no accounting for these things,” he said, in a voice
throbbing with excitement. “At the same hour I also had a strange,
an almost terrible sort of vision.”
“Yes, my deliverer, you have been called into my life to save it—to
save that life which never had a perfect thought until it was brought
into prison. It did not know what the trees and the sky were, nor the
air and the birds; never had it heard a deep voice nor touched a
strong hand. You are he that leaped out of the vast multitude that
mocked me in my dream, he who stood up before it, and, with a
great voice that sounded like the waves of the sea, caused them all
to break and run. They grew afraid of your words and your looks,
and they fled in terror. Yes, my life has become so full of beauty and
meaning, so full of a spacious mystery, that I cannot believe it is to
be taken away.”
These words, breathed rather than spoken, sounded in the ear of
Northcote as those of a transcendent sanity. Remote as they were,
they yet appeared divinely appropriate to the time and place. But
they left only one course for him to follow. He must detach himself
from the unhappy speaker of them; he must flee her presence. Their
edge was too keen. There would be no advocacy on the morrow if
he yielded to the subtle enervation of this atmosphere. The voice
pierced him like a passion, yet his veins had grown sluggish and
heavy, as if under the influence of a drug.
XXI
THE TALISMAN WHICH TRANSCENDS
EXPERIENCE

Calling the name of the solicitor, Northcote broke away abruptly


from the prisoner and left the room. It had seemed to be charged
with a pestilence. Mr. Whitcomb was soon at his side, and hastily
they wended their way up and down various flights of stone steps,
along the noisome corridors of the huge building, until daylight came
in sight once more through the doorway at the end of the passage at
which their cab was standing. Their relief was very real at being able
to breathe again the living air, fog-laden as it was.
“I don’t know how many times,” said Mr. Whitcomb, as they drove
from the portals of the jail, “on one errand and another, I have
descended into this inferno, but it never loses its power to give me
the blues.”
“I am regretting,” said Northcote, “that I did not take your advice. I
wish I had not come near it. I cannot shake off the impression it has
made. Ugh! it gets into one’s blood. I don’t know anything quite so
overpowering as the nausea of locality.”
“You are too impressionable, my son,” said the solicitor, with a furtive
smile. “You will never be able to get through life at this rate. It wants
one of some hardihood, one who is robust in each one of his five
senses, to practise law.”
“I would say,” Northcote rejoined, with a shudder, “that to be armed
for this calling each particular nerve he has got in his body must be
shod with iron.”
The solicitor laughed at so palpable a discomposure.
“What did you make of the prisoner?” he asked, suddenly. “You
appeared to find a great deal to say to one another.”
“Personally I hardly spoke a word to her,” said the young man,
seeking to gather his recollection of that strange interview.
“She appeared to find a good deal to say to you,” said the solicitor.
“In that respect you have been more fortunate than myself. I have
spoken with her three times, and I don’t think I have been able to
extract three words from her. Do you mind telling me what she said?”
“To the best of my remembrance she said nothing that could have
the least interest for anybody.”
“Tell me, what impression of her have you brought away?”
“I hardly know whether she allowed me to form one. Our
communication seemed so indirect. She kept her face in the shadow
all the time; I could not discern a feature.”
“Surely you were able to gather some sort of general idea?”
“That is the strange thing—I seem to have formed no opinion about
her. One would not have thought it conceivable that one should have
conversed with a person, dealt at least in an actual exchange of
words at close quarters, and that they should remain so null. I think I
should have been better acquainted with her had I not seen her at
all.”
“Come, my dear fellow, you can surely recall a word or two of what
she said? She is an enigma; and she is said not to have spoken six
words since she was first remanded in custody.”
“That certainly makes the volubility in which she indulged this
afternoon the more astonishing.”
“Indeed it does. Would you say that she expects an acquittal?”
“Well, now you come to mention that, I would say she does.”
“It is an extraordinary thing that they are all so sanguine. It hardly
ever seems to occur to any of them that by any possibility they can
meet with their deserts. Indeed, one might say the bigger the
criminal, the greater their confidence that they will escape.”
“I am going to ask you what opinion you have formed of her,” said
Northcote.
“It follows the lines of your own. When I have come into personal
contact with her, I have been able to make rather less than nothing
of her. At first I thought she seemed sullen, and quite reconciled to
her position, indeed, that she was too callous to care about anything;
but upon seeing her to-day, I was rather struck by the fact that her
attitude had undergone a change.”
“How long has she been in prison?”
“Nearly three months. She is an odd sort of creature—her former
associates are agreed upon that—and doubtless some sort of
change has taken place in her. I am more than ever convinced that
insanity is your line; and by this time it should not be too much to
hope that you are.”
“She will expect her liberty.”
“She will expect! My dear boy, it is when you permit yourself to talk in
this fashion that you fill one with so much distrust. Her position
entitles her to expect nothing.”
“No sort of doubt overtakes you then in regard to her guilt?”
“None. I have suggested that to you over and over again. My dear
fellow, it is as I feared; you have not permitted yourself a due
appreciation of the overwhelming nature of the evidence. I do not
see how she can hope to escape; and this is pretty plain speaking on
the part of her attorney. Just look at the array of facts—her course of
life, her purchase of the poison, the result of the post-mortem, the
presence of motive. Again and again I have felt it to be my duty to
suggest to you that Tobin would not have attempted to shake the
evidence.”
“Well, you must permit me to say that, reflect upon the question as I
will, it does not seem easy to reconcile the woman in that room with
the cold-blooded monster who will be presented to the jury.”
“That phenomenon is by no means rare. It has been my fortune to
undertake the defence of more than one finished example of moral
obliquity who has presented not the least indication of such a
condition. Besides, do you not admit that the impression that this
woman made upon you was one of absolute nullity? Were you not
unable to divine anything in regard to her?”
“Yes, that was my first feeling; but I am now confessing that after all,
in some mysterious way, she has contrived to shake these
preconceived ideas about her, now that from this distance I can view
the room and what transpired in it. I dare not say by what means she
has contrived to produce this effect; indeed, it is so subtle that I can
hardly say what it amounts to, because if I begin to recall her words
she seems almost to have admitted her guilt. Yet of one thing I am
convinced—she presented no evidence of her depravity.”
“One can easily concede the probability of that.”
“Yes, but had it been as complete as you insist, I must have seen it.”
“Pardon me, but I am afraid it does not follow. What is easier than to
hide its traces from the eyes of inexperience?”
“Have I not the talisman in my pocket which transcends experience?”
“Talisman be damned,” said Mr. Whitcomb, with a jovial brutality.
Before his companion could frame an answer to a scorn so
unconciliatory, the hansom stopped before the offices of Messrs.
Whitcomb and Whitcomb. They alighted together.
XXII
LIFE OR DEATH

The final consultation of Northcote and his client took place in the
open street in the heavily raining December afternoon, with their
backs against Mr. Whitcomb’s brass plate. The spot selected for their
last utterances on this momentous affair was incongruous indeed,
but each had grown so impatient of the other, that if their last words
were spoken here, the clash of their mental states was the less likely
to invite disaster than in a more formal council-chamber of four walls.
The robust common sense of the solicitor had never shown itself to
be more incisive than now as he stood with his back to his own door,
under a dripping umbrella, his hat pushed to the back of his head,
and his trousers turned up beyond his ankles. His twenty years of
immensely successful practice, his exact knowledge of human
nature, his ruthless worldliness, his reverence for the hard fact, stood
forth here in the oddest contrast with the somewhat “special” and
rarefied quality of this youthful advocate whom he had seen fit to
entrust with so important a case.
“It’s a pity, it’s a pity,” he brought himself to say at last, his veneer
falling off a little under the stress of his chagrin, and revealing a
glimpse of the baffled human animal beneath. “It is a serious mistake
to have made; but we have got to stand to it. You are not the man for
this class of work, to speak bluntly. You are either too deep or you
are not deep enough. But as I say, we have got to stand to it now.
My last words will be to urge you to put as good a face upon it as
you can.”
“In other words,” said Northcote, stiffening, “you will look to me to do
my best.”
“I don’t put it in that form exactly,” said the solicitor, midway between
exasperation and a desire to be courteous. “I want you fully to
appreciate that you are handling an extremely tough job, and I
merely want you to make the best of it, that’s all.”
“I will tell you, Mr. Whitcomb,” said Northcote, striving in vain to avert
the explosion that had been gathering for so long, “that if it were not
now the eleventh hour, if I had not pledged myself to this thing more
deeply than you know, if it were not a matter of life and death to me
as well as to your client, I would throw your brief back at you rather
than submit to this. It will be time enough for you to get upon your
platform when I have made a hash of everything.”
“Yes, I think you are entitled to say that,” said the solicitor impartially,
having made a successful effort to recapture his own serenity. “I
have no right to talk as I am doing; I have never done so to any one
else. I suspect you have got on my nerves a bit.”
“Yes, the whole matter throws back to the clash of our
temperaments,” said Northcote, unable to cloak his own irritation
now that it had walked abroad. “It is a pity that we ever attempted to
work together. Yet for one who envelops himself in the serene air of
reason, you are somewhat illogical, are you not? You enter the
highways and hedges in search of a particular talent; you have the
fortune to light upon it; and then you turn and rend its unhappy
possessor for possessing it.”
“As I say, my dear boy, this particular talent of yours—or is it your
temperament?—you see I am not up in these technical names—has
got on my nerves a little.”
“And your temperament, my friend, to indulge a tu quoque, is
covered with a hard gritty outer coating, for which I believe the
technical name is ‘practicality,’ which positively sets one’s teeth on
edge.”
“So be it; we part with mutual recriminations. But this is my last word.
Firmly as I believe I have committed an error of judgment, if to-
morrow you can prove that I have deceived myself, you will not find
me ungrateful. I can speak no fairer; and this you must take for my
apology. It is not too much to say that since I have come to know you
I have ceased to recognize myself.”
“I accept your amende” said Northcote, without hesitation. “I see I
have worried you, but if I might presume to address advice to the
fount of all experience, never, my dear Mr. Whitcomb, attempt to
formulate a judgment upon that which you cannot possibly
understand.”
“After to-morrow there is a remote chance that I may come to heed
your advice. In the meantime we will shake hands just to show that
malice is not borne. Don’t forget that you will be the first called to-
morrow, at half-past ten. It is quite likely to last all day.”
The solicitor turned into his offices and Northcote sauntered along
Chancery Lane. The twilight which had enveloped the city all day
was now yielding to the authentic hues of evening. The dismal
street-lamps were already lit, the gusts of rain, sleet, and snow of the
previous night had been turned into a heavy downpour which had
continued without intermission since the morning. The pavements
were bleached by the action of water, but a miasma arose from the
overburdened sewers, whose contents flowed among the traffic and
were churned by its wheels into a paste of black mud. Northcote was
splashed freely with this thick slushy mixture, even as high as his
face, by the countless omnibuses; and in crossing from one
pavement to another he had a narrow escape from being knocked
down by a covered van.
It was in no mood of courage that the young man pushed his way to
his lodgings through the traffic and the elbowing crowds who
thronged the narrow streets. Even the mental picture that was
thrown before his eyes of this garret which had already devoured his
youth had the power to make him feel colder than actually he was.
Never had he felt such a depression in all the long term of his
privation as now in wending his way towards it laboriously, heavily,
with slow-beating pulses.
He was sore, disappointed, angry; his pride was wounded by the
attitude of his client. His self-centred habit caused him to take
himself so much for granted, that at first he could discern no reason
for this volte-face. In his view it was inconsiderate to withhold the
moral support of which at this moment he stood so much in need.
Truly the lot of obscurity was hard; its penalties were of a kind to
bring many a shudder to a proud and sensitive nature. The
patronizing insolence of one whom he despised was beginning to fill
him with a bootless rage, yet in his present state how impotent he
was before it. He must suffer such things, and suffer them gladly,
until that hour dawned in which his powers announced themselves.
That time was to-morrow—terrible, all-piercing, yet entrancing
thought! The measure of his talent would then be proclaimed. Yet all
in an instant, like a lightning-flash shooting through darkness, for the
first time the true nature of his task was revealed to him. Doubt took
shape, sprang into being. Its outline seemed to loom through the
dismal shadows cast by the lamps in the street. Who and what was
he, after all, in comparison with a task of such immensity? With
startling and overwhelming force the solicitor’s meaning was
suddenly unfolded to him.
He took himself for granted no more. He must be mad to have gone
so far without having paused to subject himself to the self-criticism
that is so salutary. How could he blame the solicitor whose eminently
practical mind had resented this inaccessibility to the ordinary rules
of prudence? Was he not the veriest novice in his profession, without
credentials of any kind? And yet he arrogated to himself the right to
embark upon a line of conduct that was in direct opposition to the
promptings of a mature judgment.
How could he have been so sure of this supreme talent? It had never
been brought to test. The only measure of it was his scorn of others,
the scorn of the unsuccessful for those who have succeeded. The
passion with which it had endowed him was nothing more, most
probably, than a monomania of egotism. How consummate was the
folly which could mistake the will for the deed, the vaulting ambition
for the thing itself!
On the few occasions, some seven or eight in all, in which he had
turned an honest guinea, mostly at the police-court, he had betrayed
no surprising aptitude for his profession. There had been times, even
in affairs so trivial, when his highly strung nervous organization had
overpowered the will. He had not been exempt from the commission
of errors; he recalled with horror that once or twice it had fallen to his
lot to be put out of countenance by his adversary; while once at least
he had drawn down upon himself the animadversions of the
presiding deity. Surely there was nothing in this rather pitiful career
to provide a motive for this overweening arrogance.
He grew the more amazed at his own hardihood as he walked along.
To what fatal blindness did he owe it that from the beginning his true
position had not been revealed to him? Where were the credentials
that fitted him to undertake a task so stupendous? What
achievement had he to his name that he should venture to launch his
criticisms against those who had been through the fray and had
emerged victorious? How could he have failed to appreciate that
abstract theory was never able to withstand the impact of
experience! It was well enough in the privacy of his garret to
conceive ideas and to sustain his faculties with dreams of a future
that could never be, but once in the arena, when the open-mouthed
lion of the actual lay in his path, he would require arms more
puissant than these.
To overcome those twin dragons Tradition and Precedent, behind
which common and vulgar minds entrenched themselves so
fearlessly, the sword of the sophist would not avail. It would snap in
his fingers at the first contact with these impenetrable hides. His
blade must be forged of thrice-welded steel if he were to have a
chance on the morrow. He had decided to promulgate like a second
Napoleon the doctrine of force, and for his only weapon he had
chosen a dagger of lath. Well might Mr. Whitcomb smile with
contempt. Where would he find himself if he dared to preach the
most perilous of gospels, if he could not support it with an enormous
moral and physical power?
For years he had dwelt in a castle which he had built out of air,
secure in the belief that he was endowed in ample measure with
attributes whose operations were so diverse yet so comprehensive,
that in those rare instances in which they were united they became
superhuman in their reach. An Isaiah or a Cromwell did not visit the
world once in an era. How dare such a one as he fold his nakedness
in the sacred mantle of the gods! It was the act of one whose folly
was too rank even to allow him to pose as a charlatan. If he ventured
to deliver one-half of these astonishing words he had prepared for
the delectation of an honest British jury, these flatulent pretensions
would be unveiled, he would be mocked openly, his ruin would be
complete and irretrievable.
Never had irresolution assailed him so powerfully. This review at the
eleventh hour of the unwarrantable estimate he had formed of
himself rendered it imperative that he should change his plans. The
opinion of others, acknowledged masters of the profession in which
he was so humble a tyro, was incontrovertible. Evidence in support
of a perfectly rational plea was provided for him, would be ready in
court. His client had demanded that it should be used. To disregard
that demand would be to rebuff his only friend, one of great influence
who had been sent to his aid in his direst hour. And it was for nothing
better than a whim that he was prepared to yield his all. No principle
was at stake, no sacrifice of dignity was involved. That which his
patron had asked of him was so natural, so admirably humane, that
the mere act of refusal would be rendered unpardonable unless it
were vindicated by complete success. No other justification was
possible, not only in the eyes of himself and in those of his client, but
no less was exacted of him by the hapless creature whose life was in
his keeping.
Stating it baldly, let him fail in the superhuman feat which had been
imposed upon him by a disease which he called ambition, and this
wretched woman would expiate his failure upon the gallows. Had
any human being a right to incur such a penalty, a right to pay such a
price in the pursuit of his own personal and private aims? The middle
course was provided for him. It would deliver the accused and
himself from this intolerable peril; it opened up a path of safety for
them both.
Already he could observe with a scarifying clearness, that here and
now, at the eleventh hour, he must defer to the irresistible impact of
the circumstances. The risk was too grave; he was thrusting too
cruel a responsibility upon his flesh and blood. He must hasten to
make terms with that grossly material world of the hard fact which he
scorned so much. He must submit to one of those pitiful

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