The debate captain presented an incontestable correlation. (incontestable: indisputable, undeniable, unquestionable; correlation: association, covariation, correspondence) Days with more pigeons in the courtyard had more ice cream sales. Her fallacious conclusion was that the birds induced thirst. (fallacious: unsound, invalid, mistaken) A boy in the back saw the fallacy but lacked the audacity to rebut the captain without proof. (fallacy: misconception, false belief, error; audacity: boldness, daring, temerity; rebut: counter, challenge, contest)
He wheeled the ice cream cart into the assembly and waited. The birds did not converge on an empty cart. (converge: meet, join, unite) He filled it, and the pupils came running. Only after the cones began to crumble did the pigeons arrive. His rebuttal was germane, though the teacher wanted one elaboration. (rebuttal: counterargument, counterstatement, rejoinder; germane: relevant, pertinent, applicable; elaboration: expansion, amplification, development) Did the two students want to converse about whether an ice cream sale always drew a bird? (converse: talk, chat, speak)
The boy shook his head. A single demonstration was hardly a refutation of every other explanation, and it offered no guaranty that the birds would come again. (refutation: disproof, falsification, demolition of an argument; guaranty: guarantee, pledge, assurance) He sold the teacher a cone. She ate it indoors, and her spotless desk furnished a corollary nobody had paid to test. (corollary: consequence, result, implication)