Main Argument vs. Sub Argument

[Joseph S]

Hi! I am in the virtual course. I am having some difficulty distinguishing between a main conclusion and sub conclusion in a stimulus. I keep getting lured into trying to justify a sub conclusion. What is the best way to determine which is the main conclusion? Thanks!

[milanproda@me.com]

An excellent point of reference are pages 22-23 of the PS Logical Reasoning Bible.

In essence, when you identify two potential conclusions, take the statements and line them up next to each other. Think of the first statement as the premise and the second statement as the conclusion. Then ask yourself whether the argument makes sense. If the argument makes sense, then you know that the second sentence is the true conclusion. If the argument does not make sense, then reverse it.

I did not copy the exact wording from the book because I am not sure how the forum moderators look upon copying text from the Bibles, but you can find an excellent example on page 22.

Oh, and for Method of Reasoning questions, make sure you are careful when searching for the conclusion! I have been going through a bunch of LSAT tests and many Method of Reasoning questions have traps. What I mean by a trap is that the test author will place a conclusion indicator such as "Thus" in front of the subsidiary conclusion and not the main conclusion. Just some food for thought.

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Joseph,

Since the Bibles aren't course material in the Virtual Course, you need to refer to pages 7-54 to 7-57 of the course books to read our discussion of main vs. subsidiary conclusions. To distinguish between the two, use one statement as a conclusion and the other as a premise and see if the arrangement makes sense. If it does, then you have found the main conclusion of the argument. If it doesn't, reverse the logical structure. It would also be helpful to review the Conclusion Identification Method in Lesson 1.

Good luck!

[jgray]

where in lesson 1 (pg#) is the conclusion ID method?

[Francis O'Rourke]

The method that Nikki mentioned was covered in the course book on pages 1-3 to 1-5. Additional analysis and practice can be found on pages 1-40 to 1-47, 1-52 to 1-56, and 1-85 to 1-99

In the Logical Reasoning Bible, this method is explicitly described on pages 38 and 39 with additional practice and analysis on pages 24 to 37, 40 tp 42, and 54 to 64.