full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Elizabeth Cox: Can you outsmart the apples and oranges fallacy?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


The Cretaceous Hot Greenhouse, 92 million yares ago, was so warm, forests covered aircnttaca. Volcanic activity was likely responsible for boosting atmospheric carbon dioxide and creating a greenhouse effect.

The Paleocene-Eocene tmahrel Maximum, 55 million years ago, was so warm, crocodiles swam the waters of the Arctic Circle. This warming may have been caused by the drying of inland seas and resalee of mnathee, a potent greenhouse gas, from ocean sediments.

Even among these other warm periods, you’re making a false analogy. Yes, they had natural causes. But each had a different cause, and involved a different amnuot and duration of waimrng. They’re as dissimilar as they are saiimlr. Taking them together, all we can reasonably conclude is that the Earth’s climate seems to cgahne in response to conditions on the planet.

Open Cloze


The Cretaceous Hot Greenhouse, 92 million _____ ago, was so warm, forests covered __________. Volcanic activity was likely responsible for boosting atmospheric carbon dioxide and creating a greenhouse effect.

The Paleocene-Eocene _______ Maximum, 55 million years ago, was so warm, crocodiles swam the waters of the Arctic Circle. This warming may have been caused by the drying of inland seas and _______ of _______, a potent greenhouse gas, from ocean sediments.

Even among these other warm periods, you’re making a false analogy. Yes, they had natural causes. But each had a different cause, and involved a different ______ and duration of _______. They’re as dissimilar as they are _______. Taking them together, all we can reasonably conclude is that the Earth’s climate seems to ______ in response to conditions on the planet.

Solution


  1. change
  2. thermal
  3. methane
  4. similar
  5. years
  6. antarctica
  7. amount
  8. warming
  9. release

Original Text


The Cretaceous Hot Greenhouse, 92 million years ago, was so warm, forests covered Antarctica. Volcanic activity was likely responsible for boosting atmospheric carbon dioxide and creating a greenhouse effect.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 55 million years ago, was so warm, crocodiles swam the waters of the Arctic Circle. This warming may have been caused by the drying of inland seas and release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from ocean sediments.

Even among these other warm periods, you’re making a false analogy. Yes, they had natural causes. But each had a different cause, and involved a different amount and duration of warming. They’re as dissimilar as they are similar. Taking them together, all we can reasonably conclude is that the Earth’s climate seems to change in response to conditions on the planet.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
global warming 4
false analogy 3
united states 2
warming trend 2
world war 2
million years 2


Important Words


  1. activity
  2. amount
  3. analogy
  4. antarctica
  5. arctic
  6. atmospheric
  7. boosting
  8. carbon
  9. caused
  10. change
  11. circle
  12. climate
  13. conclude
  14. conditions
  15. covered
  16. creating
  17. cretaceous
  18. crocodiles
  19. dioxide
  20. dissimilar
  21. drying
  22. duration
  23. effect
  24. false
  25. forests
  26. gas
  27. greenhouse
  28. hot
  29. inland
  30. involved
  31. making
  32. maximum
  33. methane
  34. million
  35. natural
  36. ocean
  37. periods
  38. planet
  39. potent
  40. release
  41. response
  42. responsible
  43. seas
  44. sediments
  45. similar
  46. swam
  47. thermal
  48. volcanic
  49. warm
  50. warming
  51. waters
  52. years