Lecture # 4

Introduction to
Questions Catalog
Instructor: Sumera Kazi
 1. Logic and its terms
2. Introduction to Arguments
Getting 3. Introduction to Conclusions
started with 4. Introduction to Questions Catalog
Logical  5. Introduction to Evidences

Reasoning 6. Introduction to Flaws

7. Anatomy of a Logical Reasoning Question
8. Practice
 Logical Reasoning Question Types
1. Identify the conclusion
 The Main Conclusion question type is a particularly important
Catalog of one to master, because identifying the main conclusion is an
essential step in solving many other types of questions
Question Types  Sample question language
 Which one of the following most accurately expresses the
conclusion drawn in the argument?
 The conclusion drawn in Annie’s argument is that

 
 2. Infer what is most strongly supported
Questions ask you to find the choice that is most strongly
supported by a stimulus, the answer does not have to
be conclusively supported by the passage. It just has to be the choice
that is most supported by the passage.
Catalog of
Question Types  Sample question language
 Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
cont.  Laraib’s statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of
the following hypotheses?
 Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the
information above?
 3. Identify or infer an issue in dispute
 These questions usually ask you to determine a topic on which two
speakers disagree.
 Sometimes, they draw similar conclusions but make opposing
claims along the way. Other times, they draw opposing conclusions.
Catalog of  Your task is to identify a point of disagreement.
Question Types  Sample question language
cont.  X and Y disagree over whether
 X and Y disagree with each other about which one of the following?
 The dialogue provides the most support for the claim that X and Y
disagree over whether
 On the basis of their statements, X and Y are committed to disagreeing
over the truth of which one of the following statements?
 4. Identify the Principle/Rule
 In this question, you’re asked to identify the principle that underlies
the argument in the passage.
 You might be asked to identify the principle that will justify the
argument, in some cases. Or, you might be asked to identify the
principle that’s illustrated by the passage, where the passage
contains a situation rather than a conclusion/support-based
Catalog of argument.
Question Types  Sample question language
 Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the
cont. reasoning in the argument above?
 The journalist’s reasoning most closely conforms to which one of the
following principles?
 The situation described above conforms most closely to which one of
the following generalizations?
 The principle stated above, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning
in which one of the following arguments?
 5. Identify a flaw
 This question asks you to identify a flaw in an argument’s
reasoning. You can assume that the argument is defective in
some way. 
 your answer will generally be a description of something
that's wrong with the argument.
 Sample question language
Catalog of  Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in
the argument’s reasoning?
Question Types  The argument commits which one of the following errors of
cont. reasoning?
 The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism
on the grounds that the argument
 The argument’s reasoning is questionable in that the argument
 Trey's remarks suggest that he is misinterpreting which one of
the following words used by Ginevra?
 6. Strengthen
 Sample question language
 Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
 Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the support for the
scientist's hypothesis?
 Which one of the following, if true, adds the most support for the conclusion of
the argument?
Catalog of 7. Weaken
Question Types  Sample question language
cont.  Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
 Which one of the following, if true, most undermines the claim made above?
 These questions ask you to identify a strengthener or weakener—information
that, if added to the support, would make the conclusion more likely
or less likely to be true. 
 A strengthener or weakener won’t prove or disprove a conclusion beyond a
shadow of a doubt—it’ll just improve or worsen the likelihood of the conclusion
to follow from its support.
 8. Explain
 In this question, you’re asked what information would
help explain or resolve a situation or discrepancy that’s
presented in the stimulus
 Sample question language
Catalog of  Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the
apparently paradoxical/ inconsistent result?
Question Types  Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the
cont. failure of the strategy?
 Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the
preference described above?
 Each of the following, if true, contributes to an explanation of
the difference in caloric intake EXCEPT:
 9. Resolve a conflict
 These questions present a puzzling situation in the passage and
ask you to identify which choice gives you information that sheds
light on that situation.
 For example, there might be two pieces of information that seem
Catalog of to conflict with each other. Or, there could be results that are
unexpected. 
Question Types  Sample question language
cont.  Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the
apparent conflict described above?
 Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the
apparent discrepancy in the information above?
 Which one of the following, if true, does most to justify the doctors’
apparently paradoxical belief?
 10. Necessary Assumptions
 This question asks you to identify the claim that must be true or
is required in order for the argument to work.
 In other words, there is a silent, unspoken piece of support that the
arguer is taking for granted to be true, and your job is to explicitly
identify what that piece is.
 Necessary assumption questions usually involve arguments that have
Catalog of something—or several things—missing. There's at least one significant
Question Types gap.
cont.  Examples:  Water is necessary to survival.
 Explanation: How do we know? Because if we took water away,
we wouldn’t survive. The same is true for an assumption
that’s necessary to an argument.
 Sample question language
 Which one of the following is an assumption required by the
argument?
 Which of the following is a necessary assumption of the argument?
 11.Sufficient Assumption
 This question asks you to identify a sufficient assumption—
that is, an assumption that, if added to the argument, would
make it logically valid.
 Sample question language
 Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the
Catalog of conclusion of the argument to be properly inferred?
Question Types  The conclusion follows logically from the premises if which
one of the following is assumed?
cont.  Example: The upcoming conference will definitely be
profitable, because if at least 50 people register for a
conference, that conference is profitable.