Question

• Speaker 1: Recent polls show that more than half of all city residents would

commute to work by bike if they felt safer. As city council members, you
control the city's budget. If you prioritize the wishes of voters, you should pay
attention to these facts. It is critical to make sure the budget expands the
number of bike lanes so that we can increase the number of cyclists.
• Speaker 2: A recent study by the mayor's office revealed that cars are the
single biggest source of pollution in this city. Voters care about pollution,
and city council has the direct ability to affect air quality. If the city council
can increase bike lanes in town, we can get people out of their cars and
pollution out of the atmosphere.
Which sentence best describes the difference between the statements?

Answer 1

Assuming that you had to choose between:

1. They use difference sources of evidence.
2. They make different conclusions.
3. They are being presented to different audiences.
4. They address different topics.

The answer is: They use different sources of evidence (1).

Although both speakers reach the same conclusion on a similar topic, their angle is different and they base their argument on different data. Speaker 1 refers to "recent polls" about city residents' willingness to ride a bike to work depending on the feeling of safety, whereas Speaker 2 quotes a "study by the mayor's office" about car pollution.