Provable Questions

loophole flaw

correct answer: a provable description of how the argument overlooked your loophole

back up plan: was it bad that the argument overlooked this?

question stem keywords: most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it + loophole flaw prefix

loophole flaw prefixes: mistakenly assumes, fails to consider/establish, presumes without providing sufficient justification, takes for granted, overlooks the possibility that

classic flaw

correct answer: a provable description of what the argument did wrong

back up plan: is this what’s wrong with the argument?

question stem keywords: flaw/flawed, most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it…, questionable technique employed

correct answer describes where the stimulus went wrong

argument part

correct answer: a provable description of what the phrase is doing in the argument

back up plan: is this what the phrase is doing?

question stem keywords: role in the argument/functions in the argument, argument part, the reference to/the statement that

bracket the phrase, figure out which part of the argument it is

• “what is this phrase doing?”

method

correct answer: a provable description of what happened in the stimulus

back up plan: did this happen?

question stem keywords: argument proceeds by, describes, argumentative technique/method of reasoning/strategy of argumentation, responds by (debates)

asks you to describe what happened in the stimulus

necessary assumption

correct answer: the thing you can prove must be true, if conclusion is true

back up plan: if the conclusion is true, does this have to be true?

question stem keywords: necessary/depends/required/relies/assumes/assumption, the conclusion does not follow unless, the argument assumes which one

negate loophole, form necessary assumption → answer

agreement

correct answer: the thing you can prove the 2 speakers agree about

back up plan: does the first speaker have to believe this? does the second speaker have to believe this?

question stem keywords: agree on, point of agreement, committed to agreeing

correct answer is something you can prove both speakers agree on

controversy

correct answer: the thing you can prove the two speakers disagree about

back up plan: does the first speaker have to believe this is true/false? does the second speaker have to believe this is true/false?

question stem keywords: point at issue, point of disagreement, disagree, differing opinions

answer is your CLIR controversy

fill in

correct answer: the thing you can prove completes the author’s thought

back-up plan: does this have to be true?

question stem keywords: completes/concludes, a blank at the end of the stimulus

correct answers are straightforward and provable

most strongly supported (MSS)

correct answer: the thing you can prove is very, very, very likely to be true

back up plan: does this pretty much have to be true?

question stem keywords: most strongly supported, most strongly suggests

similar to inference

does not have to be mathematically proven, about 95-100% likely to be true

inference

correct answer: the thing you can prove definitely must be true

back up plan: does this have to be true?

question stem keywords: must be true/follows logically, inference, properly inferred/properly be concluded/properly drawn

correct answer is inference from CLIR

conclusion

correct answer: a provable translation of the conclusion

back up plan: is this a translation of the conclusion?

question stem keywords: main point, main conclusion

bracket conclusion in stimulus, translate it and find it in answer choices