- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 1045
- Joined: Oct 19, 2022
- Tue Jul 29, 2025 9:14 pm
#113753
Hi teddy,
Your explanation sounds pretty good to me.
One other point that I will add is that when it comes to arguments using conditional reasoning, assumptions that are necessary for the argument can also be sufficient for the argument. In other words, these can overlap, (although they often don't which is why it's important to approach Assumption questions and Justify questions differently).
For example, consider this argument:
Premise: John lives in Texas.
Conclusion: John lives in The United States.
The assumption (i.e. the unstated premise) in the argument is:
Anyone who lives in Texas lives in The United States.
This is the assumption that whoever is making this argument is thinking even though that person did not state it outright.
This is both necessary for the argument and also sufficient to prove the conclusion. If this statement were negated (i.e. One could live in Texas but not live in The United States), then the argument completely collapses because the conclusion now is completely unsupported.
While test takers should generally be wary of strongly worded answers on Assumption questions because they are often exaggerated and go beyond what needs to be assumed, conditional statements do sometimes appear as correct answers on Assumption questions.
Your explanation sounds pretty good to me.
One other point that I will add is that when it comes to arguments using conditional reasoning, assumptions that are necessary for the argument can also be sufficient for the argument. In other words, these can overlap, (although they often don't which is why it's important to approach Assumption questions and Justify questions differently).
For example, consider this argument:
Premise: John lives in Texas.
Conclusion: John lives in The United States.
The assumption (i.e. the unstated premise) in the argument is:
Anyone who lives in Texas lives in The United States.
This is the assumption that whoever is making this argument is thinking even though that person did not state it outright.
This is both necessary for the argument and also sufficient to prove the conclusion. If this statement were negated (i.e. One could live in Texas but not live in The United States), then the argument completely collapses because the conclusion now is completely unsupported.
While test takers should generally be wary of strongly worded answers on Assumption questions because they are often exaggerated and go beyond what needs to be assumed, conditional statements do sometimes appear as correct answers on Assumption questions.