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GRADE 12- ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Quarter 1
Module No. 2
Week 2

In this Module:
Content Standard: Performance Standard:

The learner acquires knowledge of The learner produces a detailed

appropriate reading strategies for a abstract of information gathered from
better understanding of academic the various academic texts read.
texts.

Most Essential Learning Competency

Uses various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts

The
previous chapter established that writing academic papers goes hand in hand with research. Research must
be done so you can find credible sources to support your claims in your paper. Ever since Google and
Wikipedia have become readily accessible, hundreds of sources have become available, too. This is where
critical reading comes into play. You have to be able to discriminate between the valuable and not so

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

 Annotate, outline, summarize, and question the writer’s claim in a text;

 Define fallacy and identify the kinds of fallacy;
 Analyze a text by applying the different ways in reading critically; and

III. PROCEDURES:

INTRODUCTION

ACTIVITY 1

Ponder on this statement of Gary Goshgarian: “Critical reading is an active process of discovery.”

 What does it mean to read critically?

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 Why did Goshgarian say that critical reading is an active process of discovery?
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You can map out your answers by writing words/phrases that you associate with critical reading, active, and
process of discovery. Write as many words as you can.

= +

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 CRITICAL READING ACTIVE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY

DEVELOPMENT

Based on your word associations, explain why critical reading is an active process of discovery. Create a
group chat wherein you can compare and discuss your answers with your classmates.

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HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW IT?

WHAT IS CRITICAL READING?

Imagine that you are reading a magazine and you see the following statements:

 Girls most likely do well in academics during high school years but boys get ahead of them in
college.
 Female teenagers are more concerned with their physical appearance than male teenagers.

Do you believe and agree with the statements after reading them? Would you question their veracity?
How would you react after reading the statements?

If you question the validity of the statements by asking the person to give the basis for her/his
assertions, then you are one step closer to becoming a critical reader.

Critical reading involves scrutinizing any information that you read or hear. Critical reading means
not easily believing information offered to you by a text.

“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for
granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider” –
Francis Bacon (The Essay)

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 Critical reading is an active process of discovery because when you read critically you are not just
receiving information but also making an interaction with the writer. The interaction happens when you
question the writer’s claims and assertions and when you comment on the writer’s ideas.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR READING CRITICALLY?

To read critically, you must think critically. This involves analysis, interpretation, and evaluation.
Each of these processes helps you to interact with the text in different ways: highlighting important points
and examples, taking notes, testing answers to your questions, brainstorming, outlining, describing aspects
of the text or argument, reflecting on your own reading and thinking, raising objections to the ideas or
evidence presented, etc.

Ramage, Bean, and Johnsons (2006) identified the following requirements in critical thinking:

 The ability to pose problematic questions.

 The ability to analyze a problem in all its dimensions—to define its key terms, determine its causes,
understand its history, appreciate its human dimension and its connection to one’s own personal
experience, and appreciate what makes it problematic or complex.
 The ability to find, gather, and interpret data, facts and other information relevant to the problem.
 The ability to imagine alternative solutions to the problem, to see different ways in which the
question might be answered the different perspectives for viewing it.
 The ability to analyze competing approaches and answers, to construct arguments for and against
alternatives, and to choose the best solution in the light of values, objectives and other criteria that
you determine and articulate.
 The ability to write an effective argument justifying your choice while acknowledging counter-
arguments.

The following are some suggested ways to help you become a critical reader;
1. Annotate what you read. One of the ways to interact with the writer is to write on the text. You can
underline, circle or highlight words, phrases, or sentences that contain important details, or you can
write marginal note asking questions or commenting on the idea of the writer

As an "active reader," you already know that when you read textbook assignments, you should have
questions in your mind. As you read, you should be looking for the answers to these questions. You should
also have a pencil in hand so that you can "annotate" your text. As the word suggests, you "take notes" in
your textbook.

Unlike "highlighting," which is a passive activity, the process of annotating text helps you to stay focused
and involved with your textbook. You'll find that the process of taking notes as you read will help you to
concentrate better. It will also help you to monitor and improve your comprehension. If you come across
something that you don't understand or that you need to ask you instructor about, you'll be able to quickly
make note of it, and then go on with your reading.

The following is a list of some techniques that you can use to annotate text:

 Underline important terms.

 Circle definitions and meanings.
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  Write key words and definitions in the margin.
 Signal where important information can be found with key words or symbols in the margin.
 Write short summaries in the margin at the end of sub-units.
 Write the questions in the margin next to the section where the answer is found.
 Indicate steps in a process by using numbers in the margin.

Sample Annotated Essay

Why Do They Say That Our English Is Bad?

Who wrote this (An Excerpt)
essay? What is the Grace M. Saqueton
writer’s stand on the
subject matter?

English teachers in the Philippines often find

themselves in a very frustrating situation—no matter how hard they try What
to teach the rules of written English to their students still commit error in word account
order, word choice, subject-verb agreement, tenses, prepositions, articles., for
Yeah, I also punctuations, and the like. Teachers get frustrated when they hear or read these
notice that sentences such as “They decided to got married,” “What did the students errors?
these are watched?” or “Ana go to the canteen.” It is also alarming because the rules
common that apply to these sentences are supposedly simple rules that the students
errors. should have learned in grade school. Yet, here they are in college, still committing those
same errors.

Teachers and linguists alike have sought and (probably) are still seeking for ways
What is the
and strategies to teach English effectively especially in the light of teaching
strategy
English as a second language or as a foreign language. Different research studies
that they
have been conducted and different theories have been used to address the situation. are using
One of the topics that the researchers have explored is the recurring errors in now?
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse of second language
learners. They believe that studying these recurring errors is necessary to address Look these
the supposed grammar problem of the Filipino college students. terms up

In a paper titled, “Why Does They Say That Our Sentences Is Wrong When We Knows
English? An Analysis of the ‘Common Errors’ of Freshmen Compositions,” Saqueton (2008)
identified some of the common errors found in the essays of first year college students.
She provided explanations, using error analysis, language acquisition theories, and Who is this?
Fairclough’s paradigm on the appropriacy of “appropriateness,” as to what caused the
“errors” This is in the hope of helping English teachers develop teaching materials and
device teaching strategies that are appropriate for Filipino first year college students of different
linguistic backgrounds.

Saqueton found out that among the students’ essays, errors in the use of verbs
How did the writer
are the most common, followed by errors in the use of prepositions, problems
know of these
5 errors.
 in word choice, and problems in subject-verb agreement. There are also errors in the use of
articles, conjuctions, pronouns; spelling problems are also evident.

These “errors” are considered errors because of certain standards that

language teachers want their students to follow. These standards are the ones What certain
prescribed by grammarians. Educators want their student to master Standard standards?
English as second language learners of English. The problem here lies in the
definition of “Standard” English. Is there really a common standard? If there is, who uses it?
Whose standard should be followed?

Answering the question would entail a lot of problems. First, there should be a clear Who is
definition of what standard is. What kind of English is Standard English? Dr. Andrew he?
Moody, when asked during the International Conference on World Englishes and
Second Language Teaching on how to maintain correctness and consistency when Does this
teaching English in the Philippines, said that it would be dishonest to teach Standard mean that
English as if it exist. there is no
Who is Standard
That answer alone could raise a lot of issues. It only shows that the
Faircough and English?
concept of standard is problematic. According to Faircough (1995), there
what does
is a need for a particular standard in order to rationalize policies on the
appropriate-
teaching of Standard English. He further stated that appropriateness figures within
ness mean?
dominant conceptions of language variations (234).

General Is there an implied claim then that students of English as a second language or
American as a foreign language speak a substandard kind of English because they do not
English, the follow the standards of General American variety? What if they (Filipinos, for
Standard example) have accepted English and appropriated it to fit their needs and the
English? context of situation in their own places?

Andrew Gonzalez (1985), in his paper, “When Does an Error

What does this
Become a Feature of Philippine English?” pointed out that until Philippine This seems to
mean? English is really creolized, English is still a second language, one must contradict the
accept a standard. However, he also stressed that no matter how hard the ] early statement.
So what is the
English teacher tries, a local variety will continue to develop (168).
standard?

There will always be different perspectives on this matter, especially that language issues
seem to be a highly emotional matter. Should language education then go
for mutual intelligibility rather than subscribe to a certain His model was not really
standard? Educators and language policy planners could go back to discussed in this paper.
Faircough’s model of language learning. They have to decide how
Is the writer
relevant English is to their students, and from there they have to decide
saying that
what to teach and how to teach it. there are
different kinds
of English?
confusing.
6 He/she can
elaborate more
because it is
confusing.
 2. Outline the text. In order to fully engage in a dialogue with the text or with the writer of the text,
you need to identify the main points of the writer and list them down so you can also identify the main
points of the writer and list them down so you can also identify the ideas that the writer has raised to support
his/her stand. You don’t necessarily have to write a structured sentence or topic outline for this purpose; you
can just write in bullet or in numbers.

Example

Thesis statement:

Supporting details:

Point 1:

Point 2:

Point 3:

If we outline the essay, “Why Do They Say That Our English Is Bad?” we can come up with something like
this:

Thesis statement: The concept of Standard English is problematic because there is no clear definition of
what
3 standard. is.
Point 1: The author gives a scenario in the Philippine classrooms in which English teacher get
frustrated because of students’ grammatical errors.

Point 2: The author mentioned that research studies are being conducted in order to improve
teaching English as a second language but failed to mention what those specific studies are.

Point 3: The common errors that Filipino college students commit in their writings are
mentioned.

Summarize the text. Aside from outlining, you can also get the main points of the text you are reading and
write its gist in your own words. This will test how much you have understood the text and will help you
evaluate it critically. A summary is usually one paragraph long.

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 4. Evaluate the text. The most challenging part in critical reading is the process of evaluating what
you are reading. This is the point where the other three techniques—annotating, outlining, summarizing—
will be helpful. When you evaluate a text, you question the author’s purpose and intentions, as well as
his/her assumptions in the claims. You also check if the arguments are supported by evidence and if the
evidence are valid and are from credible sources.

These four suggested ways in reading critically are not isolated processes that are independent of each other;
they are overlapping processes that you can use simultaneously as you engage in a dialogue with the writer
of the text.

ENGAGEMENT

What is a Fallacy? You will find out after reading the story that follows.

ACTIVITY 2

Before-Reading Activity

1. Read the story, “Love is a Fallacy,” and pay close attention to its development as well as to the
contradictions and ironic twist that you may find.
2. Apply the four ways of reading critically. Annotate as you read then write a summary after reading.

Reading Text

Love Is a Fallacy
Max Shulman

1. Cool was I and logical. Keen, calculating, perspicacious, acute and astute—I was all of these. My
brain was as powerful as a dynamo, precise as a chemist’s scales, as penetrating as a scalpel. And—
think of it!—I was only eighteen.
2. It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect. Take, for example, Petey Bellows, my
roommate at the university. Same age, same background, but dumb as an ox. A nice enough fellow,
you understand, but nothing upstairs. Emotional type. Unstable. Impressionable. Worst of all, a
faddist. Fads, I submit, are the very negation of reason. To be swept up in every new craze that
comes along, to surrender oneself to idiocy just because everybody else is doing it—this, to me, is
the acme of mindlessness. Not, however, to Petey.
3. One afternoon I found Petey lying on his bed with an expression of such distress on his face that I
immediately diagnosed appendicitis. “Don’t move,” I said, “Don’t take a laxative. I’ll get a doctor.”
4. “Raccoon,” he mumbled thickly.
5. “Raccoon?” I said, pausing in my flight.
6. “I want a raccoon coat,” he wailed.
7. I perceived that his trouble was not physical, but mental. “Why do you want a raccoon coat?”
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8. “I should have known it,” he cried, pounding his temples. “I should have known they’d come back
when the Charleston came back. Like a fool I spent all my money for textbooks, and now I can’t get
a raccoon coat.”
9. “Can you mean,” I said incredulously, “that people are actually wearing raccoon coats again?”
10. “All the Big Men on Campus are wearing them. Where’ve you been?”
11. “In the library,” I said, naming a place not frequented by Big Men on Campus.
12. He leaped from the bed and paced the room. “I’ve got to have a raccoon coat,” he said passionately.
“I’ve got to!”
13. “Petey, why? Look at it rationally. Raccoon coats are unsanitary. They shed. They smell bad. They
weigh too much. They’re unsightly. They—”
14. “You don’t understand,” he interrupted impatiently. “It’s the thing to do. Don’t you want to be in the
swim?”
15. “No,” I said truthfully.
16. “Well, I do,” he declared. “I’d give anything for a raccoon coat. Anything!”
17. My brain, that precision instrument, slipped into high gear. “Anything?” I asked, looking at him
narrowly.
18. “Anything,” he affirmed in ringing tones.
19. I stroked my chin thoughtfully. It so happened that I knew where to get my hands on a raccoon coat.
My father had had one in his undergraduate days; it lay now in a trunk in the attic back home. It also
happened that Petey had something I wanted. He didn’t have it exactly, but at least he had first rights
on it. I refer to his girl, Polly Espy.
20. I had long coveted Polly Espy. Let me emphasize that my desire for this young woman was not
emotional in nature. She was, to be sure, a girl who excited the emotions, but I was not one to let my
heart rule my head. I wanted Polly for a shrewdly calculated, entirely cerebral reason. I was a
freshman in law school. In a few years I would be out in practice. I was well aware of the importance
of the right kind of wife in furthering a lawyer’s career. The successful lawyers I had observed were,
almost without exception, married to beautiful, gracious, intelligent women. With one omission,
Polly fitted these specifications perfectly.
21. Beautiful she was. She was not yet of pin-up proportions, but I felt that time would supply the lack.
She already had the makings. Gracious she was. By gracious I mean full of graces. She had an
erectness of carriage, an ease of bearing, a poise that clearly indicated the best of breeding. At table
her manners were exquisite. I had seen her at the Kozy Kampus Korner eating the specialty of the
house—a sandwich that contained scraps of pot roast, gravy, chopped nuts, and a dipper of
sauerkraut— without even getting her fingers moist.
22. Intelligent she was not. In fact, she veered in the opposite direction. But I believed that under my
guidance she would smarten up. At any rate, it was worth a try. It is, after all, easier to make a
beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart girl beautiful.
23. “Petey,” I said, “are you in love with Polly Espy?”
24. “I think she’s a keen kid,” he replied, “but I don’t know if you’d call it love. Why?”
25. “Do you,” I asked, “have any kind of formal arrangement with her? I mean are you going steady or
anything like that?”
26. “No. We see each other quite a bit, but we both have other dates. Why?”
27. “Is there,” I asked, “any other man for whom she has a particular fondness?”
28. “Not that I know of. Why?”
29. I nodded with satisfaction. “In other words, if you were out of the picture, the field would be open. Is
that right?”
30. “I guess so. What are you getting at?”
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31. “Nothing, nothing,” I said innocently, and took my suitcase out the closet.
32. “Where are you going?” asked Petey.
33. “Home for weekend.” I threw a few things into the bag.
34. “Listen,” he said, clutching my arm eagerly, “while you’re home, you couldn’t get some
money from your old man, could you, and lend it to me so I can buy a raccoon coat?”
35. “I may do better than that,” I said with a mysterious wink and closed my bag and left.
36. “Look,” I said to Petey when I got back Monday morning. I threw open the suitcase and revealed
the huge, hairy, gamy object that my father had worn in his Stutz Bearcat in 1925.
37. “Holy Toledo!” said Petey reverently. He plunged his hands into the raccoon coat and then his face.
“Holy Toledo!” he repeated fifteen or twenty times.
38. “Would you like it?” I asked.
39. “Oh yes!” he cried, clutching the greasy pelt to him. Then a canny look came into his eyes.
40. “What do you want for it?”
41. “Your girl.” I said, mincing no words.
42. “Polly?” he said in a horrified whisper. “You want Polly?”
43. “That’s right.”
44. He flung the coat from him. “Never,” he said stoutly.
45. I shrugged. “Okay. If you don’t want to be in the swim, I guess it’s your business.”
46. I sat down in a chair and pretended to read a book, but out of the corner of my eye I kept watching
Petey. He was a torn man. First he looked at the coat with the expression of a waif at a bakery
window. Then he turned away and set his jaw resolutely. Then he looked back at the coat, with even
more longing in his face. Then he turned away, but with not so much resolution this time. Back and
forth his head swiveled, desire waxing, resolution waning. Finally he didn’t turn away at all; he just
stood and stared with mad lust at the coat.
47. “It isn’t as though I was in love with Polly,” he said thickly. “Or going steady or anything like that.”
48. “That’s right,” I murmured.
49. “What’s Polly to me, or me to Polly?”
50. “Not a thing,” said I.
51. “It’s just been a casual kick—just a few laughs, that’s all.”
52. “Try on the coat,” said I.
53. He complied. The coat bunched high over his ears and dropped all the way down to his shoe tops. He
looked like a mound of dead raccoons. “Fits fine,” he said happily.
54. I rose from my chair. “Is it a deal?” I asked, extending my hand.
55. He swallowed. “It’s a deal,” he said and shook my hand.
56. I had my first date with Polly the following evening. This was in the nature of a survey; I wanted to
find out just how much work I had to do to get her mind up to the standard I required. I took her first
to dinner. “Gee, that was a delish dinner,” she said as we left the restaurant. Then I took her to a
movie. “Gee, that was a marvy movie,” she said as we left the theatre. And then I took her home.
“Gee, I had a sensaysh time,” she said as she bade me good night.
57. I went back to my room with a heavy heart. I had gravely underestimated the size of my task. This
girl’s lack of information was terrifying. Nor would it be enough merely to supply her with
information. First she had to be taught to think. This loomed as a project of no small dimensions, and
at first I was tempted to give her back to Petey. But then I got to thinking about her abundant
physical charms and about the way she entered a room and the way she handled a knife and fork, and
I decided to make an effort. I went about it, as in all things, systematically. I gave her a course in

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 logic. It happened that I, as a law student, was taking a course in logic myself, so I had all the facts at
my fingertips.
58. “Poll’,” I said to her when I picked her up on our next date, “tonight we are going over to the Knoll
and talk.”
59. “Oo, terrif,” she replied. One thing I will say for this girl: you would go far to find another so
agreeable.
60. We went to the Knoll, the campus trysting place, and we sat down under an old oak, and she looked
at me expectantly. “What are we going to talk about?” she asked.
61. “Logic.”
62. She thought this over for a minute and decided she liked it. “Magnif,” she said.
63. “Logic,” I said, clearing my throat, “is the science of thinking. Before we can think correctly, we
must first learn to recognize the common fallacies of logic. These we will take up tonight.”
64. “Wow-dow!” she cried, clapping her hands delightedly.
65. I winced, but went bravely on. “First let us examine the fallacy called Dicto Simpliciter.”
66. “By all means,” she urged, batting her lashes eagerly.
67. “Dicto Simpliciter means an argument based on an unqualified generalization. For example:
Exercise is good. Therefore everybody should exercise.”
68. “I agree,” said Polly earnestly. “I mean exercise is wonderful. I mean it builds the body and
everything.”
69. “Polly,” I said gently, “the argument is a fallacy. Exercise is good is an unqualified generalization.
For instance, if you have heart disease, exercise is bad, not good. Many people are ordered by their
doctors not to exercise. You must qualify the generalization. You must say exercise is usually good,
or exercise is good for most people. Otherwise you have committed a Dicto Simpliciter. Do you
see?”
70. “No,” she confessed. “But this is marvy. Do more! Do more!”
71. “Next we take up a fallacy called Hasty Generalization. Listen carefully: You can’t speak French.
Petey Bellows can’t speak French. I must therefore conclude that nobody at the University of
Minnesota can speak French.”
72. “Really?” said Polly, amazed. “Nobody?”
73. I hid my exasperation. “Polly, it’s a fallacy. The generalization is reached too hastily. There are too
few instances to support such a conclusion.”
74. “Know any more fallacies?” she asked breathlessly. “This is more fun than dancing even.”
75. I fought off a wave of despair. I was getting nowhere with this girl, absolutely nowhere. Still, I am
nothing if not persistent. I continued. “Next comes Post Hoc. Listen to this: Let’s not take Bill on our
picnic. Every time we take him out with us, it rains.”
76. “I know somebody just like that,” she exclaimed. “A girl back home—Eula Becker, her name is. It
never fails. Every single time we take her on a picnic—”
77. “Polly,” I said sharply, “it’s a fallacy. Eula Becker doesn’t cause the rain. She has no connection
with the rain. You are guilty of Post Hoc if you blame Eula Becker.”
78. “I’ll never do it again,” she promised contritely. “Are you mad at me?”
79. I sighed. “No, Polly, I’m not mad.”
80. “Then tell me some more fallacies.”
81. “All right. Let’s try Contradictory Premises.”
82. “Yes, let’s,” she chirped, blinking her eyes happily.
83. I frowned, but plunged ahead. “Here’s an example of Contradictory Premises: If God can do
anything, can He make a stone so heavy that He won’t be able to lift it?”
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84. “Of course,” she replied promptly.
85. “But if He can do anything, He can lift the stone,” I pointed out.
86. “Yeah,” she said thoughtfully. “Well, then I guess He can’t make the stone.”
87. “But He can do anything,” I reminded her.
88. She scratched her pretty, empty head. “I’m all confused,” she admitted.
89. “Of course you are. Because when the premises of an argument contradict each other, there can be
no argument. If there is an irresistible force, there can be no immovable object. If there is an
immovable object, there can be no irresistible force. Get it?”
90. “Tell me more of this keen stuff,” she said eagerly.
91. I consulted my watch. “I think we’d better call it a night. I’ll take you home now, and you go over all
the things you’ve learned. We’ll have another session tomorrow night.”
92. I deposited her at the girls’ dormitory, where she assured me that she had had a perfectly terrif
evening, and I went glumly home to my room. Petey lay snoring in his bed, the raccoon coat huddled
like a great hairy beast at his feet. For a moment I considered waking him and telling him that he
could have his girl back. It seemed clear that my project was doomed to failure. The girl simply had
a logic-proof head.
93. But then I reconsidered. I had wasted one evening; I might as well waste another. Who knew?
Maybe somewhere in the extinct crater of her mind a few members still smoldered. Maybe somehow
I could fan them into flame. Admittedly it was not a prospect fraught with hope, but I decided to give
it one more try.
94. Seated under the oak the next evening I said, “Our first fallacy tonight is called Ad Misericordiam.”
95. She quivered with delight.
96. “Listen closely,” I said. “A man applies for a job. When the boss asks him what his qualifications
are, he replies that he has a wife and six children at home, the wife is a helpless cripple, the children
have nothing to eat, no clothes to wear, no shoes on their feet, there are no beds in the house, no coal
in the cellar, and winter is coming.”
97. A tear rolled down each of Polly’s pink cheeks. “Oh, this is awful, awful,” she sobbed.
98. “Yes, it’s awful,” I agreed, “but it’s no argument. The man never answered the boss’s question about
his qualifications. Instead he appealed to the boss’s sympathy. He committed the fallacy of Ad
Misericordiam. Do you understand?”
99. “Have you got a handkerchief?” she blubbered.
100. I handed her a handkerchief and tried to keep from screaming while she wiped her eyes.
“Next,” I said in a carefully controlled tone, “we will discuss False Analogy. Here is an example:
Students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during examinations. After all, surgeons have
X-rays to guide them during an operation, lawyers have briefs to guide them during a trial, carpenters
have blueprints to guide them when they are building a house. Why, then, shouldn’t students be
allowed to look at their textbooks during an examination?”
101. “There now,” she said enthusiastically, “is the most marvy idea I’ve heard in years.”
102. “Polly,” I said testily, “the argument is all wrong. Doctors, lawyers, and carpenters aren’t
taking a test to see how much they have learned, but students are. The situations are altogether
different, and you can’t make an analogy between them.”
103. “I still think it’s a good idea,” said Polly.
104. “Nuts,” I muttered. Doggedly I pressed on. “Next we’ll try Hypothesis Contrary to Fact.”
105. “Sounds yummy,” was Polly’s reaction.
106. “Listen: If Madame Curie had not happened to leave a photographic plate in a drawer with a
chunk of pitchblende, the world today would not know about radium.”
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107. “True, true,” said Polly, nodding her head “Did you see the movie? Oh, it just knocked me
out. That Walter Pidgeon is so dreamy. I mean he fractures me.”
108. “If you can forget Mr. Pidgeon for a moment,” I said coldly, “I would like to point out that
statement is a fallacy. Maybe Madame Curie would have discovered radium at some later date.
Maybe somebody else would have discovered it. Maybe any number of things would have happened.
You can’t start with a hypothesis that is not true and then draw any supportable conclusions from it.”
109. “They ought to put Walter Pidgeon in more pictures,” said Polly, “I hardly ever see him
anymore.”
110. One more chance, I decided. But just one more. There is a limit to what flesh and blood can
bear. “The next fallacy is called Poisoning the Well.”
111. “How cute!” she gurgled.
112. “Two men are having a debate. The first one gets up and says, ‘My opponent is a notorious
liar. You can’t believe a word that he is going to say.’ … Now, Polly, think. Think hard. What’s
wrong?”
113. I watched her closely as she knit her creamy brow in concentration. Suddenly a glimmer of
intelligence—the first I had seen—came into her eyes. “It’s not fair,” she said with indignation. “It’s
not a bit fair. What chance has the second man got if the first man calls him a liar before he even
begins talking?”
114. “Right!” I cried exultantly. “One hundred per cent right. It’s not fair. The first man has
poisoned the well before anybody could drink from it. He has hamstrung his opponent before he
could even start … Polly, I’m proud of you.”
115. “Pshaws,” she murmured, blushing with pleasure.
116. “You see, my dear, these things aren’t so hard. All you have to do is concentrate. Think—
examine—evaluate. Come now, let’s review everything we have learned.”
117. “Fire away,” she said with an airy wave of her hand.
118. Heartened by the knowledge that Polly was not altogether a cretin, I began a long, patient
review of all I had told her. Over and over and over again I cited instances, pointed out flaws, kept
hammering away without letup. It was like digging a tunnel. At first, everything was work, sweat,
and darkness. I had no idea when I would reach the light, or even if I would. But I persisted. I
pounded and clawed and scraped, and finally I was rewarded. I saw a chink of light. And then the
chink got bigger and the sun came pouring in and all was bright.
119. Five grueling nights with this took, but it was worth it. I had made a logician out of Polly; I
had taught her to think. My job was done. She was worthy of me, at last. She was a fit wife for me, a
proper hostess for my many mansions, a suitable mother for my well-heeled children.
120. It must not be thought that I was without love for this girl. Quite the contrary. Just as
Pygmalion loved the perfect woman he had fashioned, so I loved mine. I decided to acquaint her
with my feelings at our very next meeting. The time had come to change our relationship from
academic to romantic.
121. “Polly,” I said when next we sat beneath our oak, “tonight we will not discuss fallacies.”
122. “Aw, gee,” she said, disappointed.
123. “My dear,” I said, favoring her with a smile, “we have now spent five evenings together.
We have gotten along splendidly. It is clear that we are well matched.”
124. “Hasty Generalization,” said Polly brightly.
125. “I beg your pardon,” said I.
126. “Hasty Generalization,” she repeated. “How can you say that we are well matched on the
basis of only five dates?”
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127. I chuckled with amusement. The dear child had learned her lessons well. “My dear,” I said,
patting her hand in a tolerant manner, “five dates is plenty. After all, you don’t have to eat a whole
cake to know that it’s good.”
128. “False Analogy,” said Polly promptly. “I’m not a cake. I’m a girl.”
129. I chuckled with somewhat less amusement. The dear child had learned her lessons perhaps
too well. I decided to change tactics. Obviously the best approach was a simple, strong, direct
declaration of love. I paused for a moment while my massive brain chose the proper word. Then I
began:
130. “Polly, I love you. You are the whole world to me, the moon and the stars and the
constellations of outer space. Please, my darling, say that you will go steady with me, for if you
will not, life will be meaningless. I will languish. I will refuse my meals. I will wander the face of
the earth, a shambling, hollow-eyed hulk.”
131. There, I thought, folding my arms, that ought to do it.
132. “Ad Misericordiam,” said Polly.
133. I ground my teeth. I was not Pygmalion; I was Frankenstein, and my monster had me by the
throat. Frantically I fought back the tide of panic surging through me; at all costs I had to keep cool.
134. “Well, Polly,” I said, forcing a smile, “you certainly have learned your fallacies.”
135. “You’re darn right,” she said with a vigorous nod.
136. “And who taught them to you, Polly?”
137. “You did.”
138. “That’s right. So you do owe me something, don’t you, my dear? If I hadn’t come along
you never would have learned about fallacies.”
139. “Hypothesis Contrary to Fact,” she said instantly.
140. I dashed perspiration from my brow. “Polly,” I croaked, “you mustn’t take all these things so
literally. I mean this is just classroom stuff. You know that the things you learn in school don’t have
anything to do with life.”
141. “Dicto Simpliciter,” she said, wagging her finger at me playfully.
142. That did it. I leaped to my feet, bellowing like a bull. “Will you or will you not go steady
with me?”
143. “I will not,” she replied.
144. “Why not?” I demanded.
145. “Because this afternoon I promised Petey Bellows that I would go steady with him.”
146. I reeled back, overcome with the infamy of it. After he promised, after he made a deal, after
he shook my hand! “The rat!” I shrieked, kicking up great chunks of turf. “You can’t go with him,
Polly. He’s a liar. He’s a cheat. He’s a rat.”
147. “Poisoning the Well ,” said Polly, “and stop shouting. I think shouting must be a fallacy too.”
148. With an immense effort of will, I modulated my voice. “All right,” I said. “You’re a logician.
Let’s look at this thing logically. How could you choose Petey Bellows over me? Look at me—a
brilliant student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assured future. Look at
Petey—a knothead, a jitterbug, a guy who’ll never know where his next meal is coming from.
Can you give me one logical reason why you should go steady with Petey Bellows?”
149. “I certainly can,” declared Polly. “He’s got a raccoon coat.”

ACTIVITY 3

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Comprehension Questions

1. How would you describe the narrator in the story?

2. How was Petey bellows described in the story? How about Polly? Do you think that they are really
as dumb as they were described?
3. What is the narrator’s reason for wanting Polly?
4. From whose point of view is the story told? Is the telling of the story logical? Why or why not?
5. In which parts of the story did the narrator commit fallacies? Can you identify the other instances
that he committed fallacies other than those that Polly has [mentioned? For example, in the first part
of the story, what fallacies are committed?
6. Using your annotation and summary, identify the following:
a) Purposes/intention of the author
b) Assumption of the author
c) Claims of the author
7. The story is satirical and ironic at the same time. Can you show how irony was used in the story?
8. Is the author successful in a accomplishing his purpose? Why or why not?
9. If you were Polly, would you fall for the narrator or for Petey?
10. Do you agree that love is fallacy? Why or why not?

ASSIMILATION

ACTIVITY 4

Ponder on this:
How did you like learning about the different fallacies? Do you want to know more of them?
The short story, however, only mentioned eight fallacies. There are more fallacies that will be helpful
in your journey as a critical reader. Your assignment is to research on the other fallacies that are not
mentioned in the story. Give at least ten and provide your own examples for each fallacies.
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 ACTIVITY 5

Carry this out:

1. Work with a partner and evaluate three advertisements (on print or on TV). Find out if there are
fallacies that are used in those advertisement.
2. Choose a news about a recent national issue (an issue that has made it to the news headlines in
the past two weeks or so). As a critical reader, evaluate the news article and find out if there
flaws in the way the article is presented. If possible, engage in a dialogue with the writer so you
can better evaluate the text.
3. Use the following criteria for your evaluation:
 Purpose of the advertisement/news.
 Execution of the message: How was the message conveyed? What are some and/or
credible sources to vouch for the text’s credibility
 Critical value of the text: Are there fallacies?
 Effectiveness and/or truthfulness of the text

How does it feel to be a critical reader? Knowing the different flaws in logic and being able to apply
them in evaluating texts, in way, give you power to evaluate the things that you hear or read and not make
unqualified statements as well.
Before going to the next chapter, take this chapter quiz to gauge how much you have learned.

ASSESSMENT

ACTIVITY 6

Answer each of the following questions in one paragraph. Each paragraph is worth ten (10) points.
1. What does it mean and take to be a critical reader?
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2. Why is critical reading considered an active process of discovery?
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3. Why is critical reading important? In what way is critical reading related to critical writing?
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4. What are the different ways to become a critical reader? Do you agree with them? Why or why not?
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5. What is a logically fallacy?
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6. Give at least five (5) logical fallacies and give an example for each?
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Prepared by: Noted:

MARICHELLE I. PUROS CHRISTOPHER C. DE LEON

SHS Teacher Principal

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