People who complain that video games involve too much sitting are probably old. They probably don’t know very much about gaming, either. They don’t realize that people can play virtual sports, such as tennis, on video games. There are video games for dancing, too. If people bothered to learn about the different kinds of video games, they would see how wrong they are. This student’s sample paragraph addresses the counterclaim. Critique this paragraph by answering the questions.

What is the counterclaim?

Video games are too violent.

Video games make people inactive.

Video games are different today.

What evidence weakens the counterclaim?

People who complain are old.

Sitting too much is bad for people.

There are video games for sports and dancing.

What is the tone of the rebuttal?

respectful

rude

humorous

Read the excerpt from elie wiesel’s all rivers run to the sea. why were those trains allowed to roll unhindered into poland? why were the tracks leading to birkenau never bombed? i have put these questions to american presidents and generals and to high-ranking soviet officers. since moscow and washington knew what the killers were doing in the death camps, why was nothing done at least to slow down their “production”? that not a single allied military aircraft ever tried to destroy the rail lines converging on auschwitz remains an outrageous enigma to me. birkenau was “processing” ten thousand jews a day. stopping a single convoy for a single night—or even for just a few hours—would have prolonged so many lives. based on the paragraph, the author would most likely agree that it is best to avoid confrontation at all costs. people need to be proactive when they witness an injustice. countries should remain neutral to keep alliances strong. moscow and washington are to be blamed for the holocaust.