CR Argument Structure

Official Guide practice (find these in your Official Guide or at www.gmatclub.com)

Apply the skill of finding the ‘building blocks’ of arguments (Conclusion, Premise, Counterargument, Background, Intermediate Conclusion) to the following problems:

CR08471 Chaco Canyon, a settlement of the ancient Anasazi culture

CR02702 Economist: Tropicorp, which constantly seeks profitable investment opportunities,

CR81021.02 Professor: A marine biologist argues

CR07810 Biologists with a predilection for theory

CR65030.02 Consultant: Ace Repairs ends up having to redo

CR10049 Public health expert: Increasing the urgency

CR00942 In countries where automobile insurance

CR01848 Since it has become known that several of a bank’s

CR08527 Country X’s recent stock-trading scandal

CR05644 Delta Products Inc. has recently

CR02997 Scientists typically do their most creative work

A note on boldface problems: these problems are not particularly common on the GMAT (you’re likely to see only one such problem in your GMAT test). However, the skill of breaking an argument into its building blocks is valuable for most other CR problem types, so mastering this problem type is well worth the investment.

Creative practice (see below for suggested answers)

1.      The GMAT uses many synonyms to describe the five building blocks of arguments. Which ones did you find in the problems above?

2.      Using ‘marker words’ is an effective way to identify building blocks. Which marker words are associated with which building blocks of an argument?

3.      Write 2 arguments in the style of GMAT arguments.

4.      Why is the following not an argument? ‘It’s raining outside; therefore, his shoes are wet.’

Creative practice suggestions

(2) Beware that the meaning of ‘marker words’ depends on context, but here are a few common ones:

·        For a premise: since, because, as

·        For a conclusion: therefore, thus, as a result, consequently, should, must have

·        For a counter-argument: even though, although, despite

      (4) ‘It’s raining outside; therefore, his shoes are wet.’ is not an argument because it’s not trying to prove anything. Arguments try to prove that their conclusion is true. Instead, this example is an explanation. An argument would look something like: ‘Look – his shoes are wet; I think it must be raining outside.’