If You Can See Me, My Presence Is Not Assumed

by Mary Richter Sep 27, 2012

In logical reasoning, if a question asks you the role of a given phrase in the argument, the answer to the question cannot be “an assumption,” no matter how accurately the rest of the answer choice describes the argument.

Recall the cardinal rule of assumptions: they are unstated. If a question is quoting a portion of text to you, that portion is stated. It cannot, therefore, be an assumption.

These questions that ask you to identify the function or role of a phrase or statement are pretty efficient to answer if you know what you’re looking for. If you identify the quoted phrase as a conclusion, you can knock out any answer choice that calls it premise, no matter how accurate anything else in that answer choice is. Likewise, if it’s a premise, you can get rid of any answer choice that calls it a conclusion.

But regardless of its role, you can always get rid of “assumption” answer choices for one reason: since it’s quoted, that’s impossible.

Check out PT64, S1, Q14 for an example.