ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT involve reading brief arguments (each argument
is generally one to three sentences long) and answering questions relating to those
arguments.
In order to analyze GMAT arguments, it is important to understand their basic structure:
Premises + (Assumptions) = Conclusion
In words, premises and assumptions lead to a conclusion.
PREMISES are STATED pieces of information or evidence that generally provide support
for the given conclusion. They may be facts, opinions, or claims. If they are opinions or
claims, they will not be the overall claim the author is making; rather, they will be some
intermediate claim the author is using to support the overall claim (or conclusion).
ASSUMPTIONS are UNSTATED parts of the argument that are NECESSARY to reach
the given conclusion. In the formula above, the word Assumptions is put in parentheses to
signal that assumptions are NEVER stated in the written argument.
The main point of the argument is the CONCLUSION, which is logically supported by
the assumptions and premises. Conclusions
are in the form of an opinion or a claim.
You can think of the conclusion of an argument
as the top of a building, supported by
the building itself (the premises) and the
unseen underground foundation (the
assumptions).