1 The conditions under which many food animals are raised are unhealthy for humans. 2 To

The following arguments were abstracted from newspaper articles, editorials, and letters to the editor. Use the method presented in this section to construct argument patterns. If a statement is redundant or plays no role in the argument, do not include it in the pattern. 1 The conditions under which many food animals are raised are unhealthy for humans. 2 To keep these animals alive, large quantities of drugs must be administered. 3 These drugs remain in the animals’ flesh and are passed on to the humans who eat it.

1 The development of carbon-embedded plastics, otherwise called composits, is an important new technology because 2 it holds the key for new aircraft and spacecraft designs. This is so because 3 these composits are not only stronger than steel but lighter than aluminum.

1 Homework stifles the thrill of learning in the mind of the student. 2 It instills an oppressive learn-or-else discipline. 3 It quenches the desire for knowledge and the love of truth. For these reasons 4 homework should never be assigned.

1 When parents become old and destitute, the obligation of caring for them should be imposed on their children. 2 Clearly, children owe a debt to their parents. 3 Their parents brought them into the world and cared for them when they were unable to care for themselves. 4 This debt could be appropriately discharged by having grown children care for their parents.

1 Defending the war on drugs may not be fashionable, but the fact remains that 2 hardcore drugs should remain illegal. 3 As long as hardcore drugs are illegal, they are harder to get, and 4 the social stigma of being arrested deters many users.

1 The rain forest of Brazil produces oxygen for the whole world, yet 2 it yields no monetary return to that country. Given that 3 the industrialized nations consume the most oxygen, 4 those nations ought to pay Brazil an annual fee for the use of its rain forest.

1 It appears that animals may be able to predict earthquakes. 2 Prior to a major quake in China, hundreds of snakes suddenly appeared from hibernation and froze to death in the snow, 3 fish were seen leaping from rivers and lakes, and 4 cows and horses refused to enter barns. Also, 5 prior to a quake in Fremont, California, a flood of callers reported strange behavior from their pets and domestic animals.

1 Contributions to relief organizations are often wasted. 2 Food sent to wartorn countries rarely reaches its destination, because 3 food distribution is controlled by the warring groups, and 4 these groups sell the food to buy weapons and ammunition.

1 Research leading to the development of a scramjet engine is worthwhile. 2 Commercial aircraft incorporating such an engine could cross the Pacific in as little as two hours. 3 This would relieve the fatigue of flights from New York 1 to Tokyo. Also, 4 such an engine could power future orbiting spacecraft.

1 There is a lot of pressure on untenured college teachers to dumb down their courses. 2 Administrators tend to rehire teachers who bring in more money, and 3 teachers who dumb down their classes do precisely this. Why? Because 4 easier classes attract more students, and 5 more students means more money for the school.

1 The use of ethanol as an additive in gasoline is really a bad idea. 2 Ethanol is produced from corn, and 3 when 40 percent of the annual corn crop is burned up in car engines, that obviously raises the price of corn for food. 4 Also, adding ethanol to gasoline is highly inefficient. 5 Ethanol yields about 30 percent less energy than gasoline, and 6 its more expensive to transport and handle than gasoline

1 Unscrupulous for-profit colleges are not only cheating their students but 2 they are also ripping off the American taxpayer to the tune of billions of dollars. 3 Ninety-six percent of the students who attend these colleges are forced to take out loans. 4 Most of these students leave without degrees. 5 And the students then default on their loans, leaving a 32 billion dollar annual debt to the taxpayer.

1 Numerous cancer patients on chemotherapy suffer from constant nausea, loss of appetite, and inability to sleep. 2 For many of these patients, inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that provides relief. 3 Also, it causes no harmful side effects. 4 For these reasons, medical marijuana should be legalized and made available to these patients. 5 This is not a law and order issue; it is a medical and human-rights issue.

1 The United States is currently experiencing the greatest economic inequality since the 1920s, and 2 this inequality is depressing the economy. 3 The true sustainers of the economy are the bottom 99 percent of households, but 4 the top 1 percent takes in 93 percent of the growth in income. Also, 5 economic inequality is undercutting tax receipts, which are vital for infrastructure, education and research. This is because 6 income earned by the rich is taxed at a far lower rate than income earned by the middle class.

1 Programs to develop clean energy have seen some early notable successes. 2 The price of solar and wind power have both fallen sharply in recent years. 3 The nations largest wind farm, sprawling across eastern Oregon, is now open and running, and 4 there is even good news from the natural gas front. 5 The use of natural gas, which is far cleaner than coal, to generate electricity has jumped substantially in the last few years, and 6 thanks to government-sponsored research, energy companies are now able to extract much more gas from a tract of land than once seemed possible.