About Analyzing Arguments
An analyzing arguments question gives a short passage and asks one of three things about it: which statement is the conclusion, which assumption the argument depends on, or which statement would weaken it. The answer is read off the passage rather than recalled, which is what separates this topic from the vocabulary ones. Where a passage can be argued about, one answer is recorded for each question and the explanation gives the reason for it, so a disagreement can be had with the reasoning rather than with a black box.
What you need to understand
- An argument has two parts. The premises are what is offered as grounds; the conclusion is what those grounds are meant to establish. Everything in this topic follows from telling those two apart.
- The conclusion is the sentence that would be the point of writing the passage. A useful test is to ask which sentence the others are trying to support.
- The conclusion is often the first or the last sentence of a passage and often neither. Position is not a guide, and a passage written with the conclusion in the middle is one of the standard forms.
- Words that usually introduce a conclusion: therefore, so, hence, thus, it follows that, which shows that, the point is. Words that usually introduce a premise: because, since, for, given that, as.
- Those markers are aids and not rules. A passage can state its conclusion without a marker, and a passage can begin with since and still carry its conclusion in the same sentence.
- An assumption is what the argument needs to be true but has not said. It is not a gap in the writer's knowledge; it is the unstated link without which the evidence would not support the conclusion.
- The commonest assumptions are worth naming. That the evidence is reliable. That nothing else changed at the same time. That the future will resemble the past. That what is true of the people studied is true of everybody.
- In arguments about cause, the assumption is nearly always that no second thing changed at the same time as the supposed cause. This one move answers most assumption and weakening questions of the causal kind.
- For a weakening question, the strongest kind of answer is an alternative explanation of the same facts. If something else accounts for the evidence, the argument's own explanation is no longer supported by it.
- A fact that is merely unhelpful does not weaken an argument. To weaken it, an option has to break the link between the evidence and the conclusion.
- An option that says more than the passage does, with words such as only, every, always or never, is usually wrong as a conclusion, because the passage did not claim that much. It is often wrong as an assumption too, because the argument needs less.
- An option that restates what the passage already said is a favourite wrong answer. It is true, it belongs to the passage, and it does nothing to answer the question.
- A question of this kind is about the passage on the page and not about the world. An option that is true in general and unrelated to this argument is wrong however sensible it sounds.
How to work through these questions
- Read the passage once for its point: what is the writer trying to get you to accept? Then find the sentence that states it and separate the evidence from it.
- For a conclusion question, reject the options that are evidence, the options that are steps the passage takes, and the options that claim more than the passage supports.
- For an assumption question, take each option and ask whether the argument still works if that option is false. The assumption is the one whose falsity brings the argument down.
- For a weakening question, look first for a second explanation of the same facts. Only if none is offered should you consider options that attack the reliability of the evidence.
- Test the options against the passage rather than against your own view of the subject, and read all four before deciding, because the wrong ones are written to sound relevant.
- Where two options seem close, ask which one the passage would collapse without. That is the answer, and the other is usually the one that is merely true.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Picking the sentence that sounds most important rather than the one the passage argues for.
- Picking a restatement of the evidence as the conclusion, which is the commonest mistake in conclusion questions.
- Picking the strongest option in an assumption question, when the argument needs a weaker one.
- Picking an option that would strengthen the argument, which happens when the question has been misread as asking for support.
- Picking something that is true of the world but has no bearing on this passage.
- In weakening questions, picking an option that concerns a detail of the passage rather than the link between its evidence and its conclusion.
- Assuming that the conclusion must be the last sentence, which costs marks whenever the passage is written the other way round.
- Forgetting that the option has to bear on the argument in front of you, so that a perfectly reasonable statement is chosen because it is reasonable.
Worked example
Evening attendance across the district will rise once the remaining libraries have quiet study rooms. Every library that installed one has reported a rise in evening use, and the district has now funded rooms in all the others. Which of these is the conclusion of the passage?
- Ask what the passage is trying to establish. The first sentence makes a prediction, and the rest of the passage gives the grounds for it.
- The reported rise in the libraries that made the change is evidence: it is offered to support the prediction rather than to be supported by it.
- The funding of rooms in the remaining libraries is a step that has been taken, so it belongs with the evidence as background rather than being the claim.
- The option that no student will use a library in the evening unless it has a quiet study room claims far more than the passage does, so it is not the conclusion either.
- What is left is the prediction itself: that evening attendance across the district will rise once the remaining libraries have quiet study rooms. That is what the passage argues for, and it is the answer.
Answer: Evening attendance across the district will rise once the remaining libraries have quiet study rooms
Practice questions with answers
A few Analyzing Arguments questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
The bakery's sales on Saturdays have risen by a fifth since it began opening an hour earlier. Opening earlier on Saturdays has brought in more customers, and the owner is thinking of opening earlier on Sundays as well.
Which of these is the point the passage sets out to establish?
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A
The owner is thinking of opening earlier on Sundays.
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B
Opening earlier on Sundays would raise Sunday sales by a fifth.
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C
Sales on Saturdays have risen by a fifth.
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D
Opening earlier on Saturdays has brought in more customers.
Answer: Option D — with explanation
The conclusion is Opening earlier on Saturdays has brought in more customers.
The rise in Saturday sales is the evidence and the conclusion is that the earlier opening caused it; the Sunday plan follows from the conclusion rather than being part of it.
Reading the options one at a time and asking what each would do to the argument is the method that works. A question of this kind is answered by the argument on the page rather than by what is generally true, so an option that is sensible in itself and does nothing to this passage is still wrong.
Common mistakes
- "The owner is thinking of..." - this is a plan, not a conclusion: The owner is thinking of opening earlier on Sundays.
- "Opening earlier on Sundays would..." - the passage gives no reason to expect the same rise on a different day
- "Sales on Saturdays have risen..." - this is the evidence on which the claim rests: Sales on Saturdays have risen by a fifth.
Question 2
The restaurant should add more vegetarian dishes. Two thirds of its customers said in a survey that they would order vegetarian food more often if there were more choice.
Which of these is an assumption the argument depends on?
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A
Vegetarian dishes cost less to make than meat dishes.
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B
What customers said in the survey reflects what they would actually order.
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C
Two thirds of the customers said they would order vegetarian food more often.
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D
Vegetarian food is more popular than meat dishes.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
The assumption is What customers said in the survey reflects what they would actually order.
The argument rests on what people said they would do. It therefore depends on the survey being a guide to what they do, which the passage does not establish.
Reading the options one at a time and asking what each would do to the argument is the method that works. A question of this kind is answered by the argument on the page rather than by what is generally true, so an option that is sensible in itself and does nothing to this passage is still wrong.
Common mistakes
- "Vegetarian food is more popular..." - this is stronger than the argument requires, since it needs only that more choice would sell: Vegetarian food is more popular than meat dishes.
- "Two thirds of the customers..." - this is stated, and the argument quotes it
- "Vegetarian dishes cost less to..." - this may be true and the argument does not use it: Vegetarian dishes cost less to make than meat dishes.
Question 3
The sorting machine at the depot has not made the evening operation faster. The number of parcels delivered late has been unchanged since it was installed three months ago, and the depot handles the same volume of parcels as before.
Which of these is the conclusion rather than a piece of evidence?
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A
The machine was not worth the money it cost.
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B
The number of parcels delivered late has not changed in three months.
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C
The sorting machine has not made the evening operation faster.
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D
The depot handles the same volume of parcels as it did before.
Answer: Option C — with explanation
The conclusion is The sorting machine has not made the evening operation faster.
The conclusion is stated first here. The unchanged figures and the unchanged volume are the evidence the passage gives for it.
Reading the options one at a time and asking what each would do to the argument is the method that works. A question of this kind is answered by the argument on the page rather than by what is generally true, so an option that is sensible in itself and does nothing to this passage is still wrong.
Common mistakes
- "The machine was not worth..." - this is a further judgment that the passage does not argue for: The machine was not worth the money it cost.
- "The depot handles the same..." - this is a second piece of evidence, offered to rule out one explanation of the figures
- "The number of parcels delivered..." - this is the evidence for the claim rather than the claim
Question 4
The restaurant should add more vegetarian dishes. Two thirds of its customers said in a survey that they would order vegetarian food more often if there were more choice.
Which of these must be true for the argument to hold?
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A
Two thirds of the customers said they would order vegetarian food more often.
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B
What customers said in the survey reflects what they would actually order.
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C
Vegetarian food is more popular than meat dishes.
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D
Vegetarian dishes cost less to make than meat dishes.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
The assumption is What customers said in the survey reflects what they would actually order.
The argument rests on what people said they would do. It therefore depends on the survey being a guide to what they do, which the passage does not establish.
Reading the options one at a time and asking what each would do to the argument is the method that works. A question of this kind is answered by the argument on the page rather than by what is generally true, so an option that is sensible in itself and does nothing to this passage is still wrong.
Common mistakes
- "Vegetarian food is more popular..." - this is stronger than the argument requires, since it needs only that more choice would sell: Vegetarian food is more popular than meat dishes.
- "Two thirds of the customers..." - this is stated, and the argument quotes it
- "Vegetarian dishes cost less to..." - this may be true and the argument does not use it: Vegetarian dishes cost less to make than meat dishes.
Question 5
The company should move its call centre to the new building. The rent there is a third lower than the rent it pays now.
Which of these is required for the conclusion to follow?
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A
The cost of making the move would be less than the rent it saves.
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B
The new building is closer to the company's customers.
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C
The rent at the new building is a third lower than the present rent.
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D
Employees would prefer the new building.
Answer: Option A — with explanation
The assumption is The cost of making the move would be less than the rent it saves.
A lower rent is a saving only if it is not eaten up by the cost of moving. The argument assumes the saving is real without mentioning the cost.
Reading the options one at a time and asking what each would do to the argument is the method that works. A question of this kind is answered by the argument on the page rather than by what is generally true, so an option that is sensible in itself and does nothing to this passage is still wrong.
Common mistakes
- "The new building is closer..." - the argument is about rent, not about distance: The new building is closer to the company's customers.
- "The rent at the new..." - this is stated and is the whole of the evidence
- "Employees would prefer the new..." - the argument does not consider what employees prefer: Employees would prefer the new building.
Frequently asked questions
Is this topic not a matter of opinion?
Less than it looks. In a conclusion question the answer is a sentence of the passage, and in a weakening question the strongest option is the one that offers another explanation of the facts. Where a passage can be argued about, one answer is recorded for each question and the explanation gives the reason, so the argument can be about the reasoning.
How do I tell a premise from a conclusion?
Ask which sentence the others are trying to support. The supported sentence is the conclusion and the supporting ones are the premises. A premise would make no sense as the point of the passage on its own.
What is an assumption, in one line?
What has to be true for the argument to work, which the writer has not said. It is the unstated join between the evidence and the conclusion.
Why is the strongest-sounding option usually wrong in an assumption question?
Because an argument needs only enough to carry it, and an option that says more than that is not needed. A claim that every passenger owns a smartphone is not what an argument needs if all it requires is that most of them do.
Where does this topic appear in a paper?
In the verbal reasoning and analytical reasoning sections of bank, SSC and management entrance papers, and in the critical reasoning section of many others. It is usually the part of those papers that rewards method most clearly.
