Question

A writer presents the following claim and counterclaim:

Claim: The school cafeteria should start a composting program

Counterclaim: Composting is too messy

Which answer most clearly connects the claim to the counterclaim?

Answer 1

1. Those opposed to the idea of composting say it's very messy, but a lot of the food and trash gets thrown on the floor and the ground anyway, so wouldn't composting be a better idea?

2. School officials complain that collecting compost would create unnecessary mess in the cafeteria, yet we already collect aluminum and plastic in special bins and no one complains of this.

3. Since we already recycle at our school, why should it be so difficult to recycle our food, too, in a composting program that would benefit the environment as well?

4. The administrative staff doesn't want to have a composting program because they claim it's messy, but we pay cafeteria workers to clean up all of the messy food left on the tables.

Answer 2

@e.mccormick

Answer 3

@camerondoherty

Answer 4

Well, are there any you can eliminate?

Answer 5

I think definitely number 3 and 4 right? @e.mccormick

Answer 6

3, yah, it does not mention the mess so there seems to be no link to the counterclaim.

4, it has the counterclaim covered... but seems a little weak on the claim, so yah, I can see that.

OK, if you ignore those two, which of the others seems to do a more proper link between the two?

Answer 7

Oh, and here is a college level example, so perhaos it might help:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/03/

Answer 8

See... I am not sure what they mean by "connects the claim to the counterclaim"

If the question had said, "connects the counterclaim to the claim" I would be expecting just a counterclaim with clear references to the claim.