Fallacy Worksheet #1

Some of the following statements contain one or more fallacies. Some have none. If there are no fallacies write “no fallacies”. Otherwise identify the fallacy or fallacies.

The following is the list of fallacies this sheet draws from:

Appeal to ignorance
Appeal to the masses
Appeal to tradition
Appeal to force
Appeal to authority
Equivocation
Hasty Generalization
False Dichotomy
Ad Hominem
Straw Man
Slippery Slope

People in China have believed in acupuncture for hundreds of years. There must be something to it.

My best friend is really smart and he told me a simple truth which has served me well: that boys are basically intellectual and girls are basically emotional.

There are only two kinds of girls, nice girls that stay at home and party girls that go crazy. If you let your daughter go out on dates, everyone knows that the next thing you know she'll be making out with guys left and right and before you know it you'll have a pregnant teen-ager and then her baby to take care of.

Some people want women to be able to join whatever part of the military they want. What good are a bunch of little girls going to do, talk to the enemy about their feelings?

Scientists say that the Universe started with a big bang, with a huge explosion. Anyone with any sense knows that to have an explosion you need something to explode. How dumb are those fancy-pants eggheads.

I knew a guy from Canada. He was the singularly most clueless person I every met. Man, those Canadians.

This breakthrough medical procedure has been used in Europe for years. Now it's available here in the United States. Millions of Europeans can't be wrong.


How many times has he lied to you? Taking anything he says without careful examination is foolhardy.

All they want us to do in college level English classes is to write in 5 paragraph essay format. Can you imagine a bigger waste of time.


Why listen to conservatives. Every single one of them is interested in just one thing: letting big corporations do whatever it takes to make a profit.


If an addict that's been clean goes on to take one hit, then his compulsion will make him take another and then another. Before long his life will most likely be a mess.


Nobody lives in Wyoming. Have you ever met anyone from Wyoming? I didn't think so.

Christians want to change the U.S. government into a Christian theocracy.