Dissecting an Argument

Some Critical Reading questions ask about the structure of a passage and the function of specific words, sentences, or paragraphs. Being able to characterize each component of the passage into such categories as supporting evidence or refutation, analogy or example, detail or inference, and fact or opinion means you not only will be able to answer questions that ask for exactly that but you will also have a deeper understanding of the passage as a whole, which is helpful for any question.

Parts of an Argument

An argument, in literary terms, is a set of reasons an author uses to convince you of some point. Sometimes an author is attempting to persuade you into supporting (or refuting) a theory; other times, he is simply teaching you new information. Either way, the author wants you to believe his main idea or conclusion. The evidence, examples, and logic the author uses to support that conclusion and prove he is correct are the evidence.

When the author directly states these ideas in the passage, they can be called explicit. However, sometimes the author doesn’t include either the conclusion or all the evidence plainly in his writing and instead requires you to determine some of them on your own because the ideas are only implied.

If the author sets up all the evidence but forces you to realize his conclusion yourself, then you are making an inference. This can be a strong literary technique; if you come to a conclusion on your own rather than being told, you often are more likely to believe it. However, this does require some (minimal) work on your part, so the test makers use Inferences as one of their question types.

Assumptions, or implied evidence, are tested much less often on the PCAT. Not all possible types of evidence qualify as assumptions; instead, only the pieces of evidence required for the argument to make sense logically are classified as assumptions.

Consider the example of this statement: Doberman Pinschers have bitten children, so no one should own any dogs. The conclusion the speaker wants you to believe is that no one should own any dogs; the evidence is that Doberman Pinschers have bitten children. Since the conclusion is stated explicitly, you don’t need to make an inference. However, several assumptions that the speaker believes to be obvious must be true for the logic to make sense: Doberman Pinschers must be representative of all dogs; otherwise, the evidence does not connect to the conclusion of any dog. Additionally, children being bitten must be unfavorable; if the listener actually wants children to be bitten, then the conclusion once again does not align with the evidence.

Facts and Opinions

The evidence of an argument can be further classified as fact or opinion. A fact is an unbiased observation or something that is irrefutable. An opinion interjects the author’s feelings on or evaluation of a subject. To identify each, watch for the specific phrasing the author uses. Words like should and seems and phrases like in my opinion and I believe are good clues that the author is describing an opinion, but sometimes the clues are more subtle. When you need to differentiate between fact and opinion, such as in the following exercise, consider whether everyone would agree given the same data (fact) or if there could be multiple interpretations (opinion).

Practice exercise

Directions: Determine whether each statement is a fact or the author’s opinion.

1. To assert that the ideal of democratic rule began with the Magna Carta is to misunderstand that the document was actually the product of a power struggle between two factions—the throne and the nobility—that were completely unconcerned about the rights of the common man.
2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs are still held in very high regard by both the architectural community and the general public.
3. The federal government has claimed for years that reforms to make the income tax system more progressive will soon be enacted, but this seems very unlikely in light of the government’s disinterest in easing the burden on low and middle-income wage earners.
4. Some scientists believe that a layer of iridium in the Earth’s crust proves a comet struck the planet, wiping out the dinosaurs; others argue that this layer was formed as the result of volcanic activity.
5. Astronomers long ago established that nebulas—clouds of interstellar gas and dust—are regions of space that give birth to new starts.
6. Literary critics have rightly concluded that the interest in “ethnic inheritance” displayed by George Eliot in her novels was sparked by her inability to feel comfortable in her own surroundings.

Solutions to practice exercise

1. Opinion: the statement refutes a misunderstanding of the Magna Carta held by others.
2. Fact: the statement repeats a generally acknowledged truth about Frank Lloyd Wright.
3. Opinion: the statement takes issue with the government’s claim about taxes that seems unlikely.
4. Fact: the statement describes two different views about the origins of the iridium layer.
5. Fact: the statement repeats a scientific observation about the birth of stars.
6. Opinion: the statement describes a generally accepted interpretation of George Eliot’s work as right.