SoftSkillHero

Identifying claims

To understand an argument, you start by identifying the claims that occur in the argument. As we said, claims are the basic building blocks of arguments and can be true or false. When each sentence in an argument clearly states one claim, identifying the claims in the argument is easy. But often, speakers don't express the building blocks of their arguments so clearly. Let's consider some of the pitfalls of identifying the claims in an argument.

Identify multiple claims in one sentence

Consider this slight variation of Kartik's argument:

The second sentence contains two claims: that potential customers are increasingly spending time online and that digital marketing makes it easier to track the success of ad campaigns. These are two separate building blocks of the argument. Each of them can be true or false independently of the other.

In our diagrams, it's important that we put each claim in its own box, even if claims are packaged into the same sentence. If we put two claims in the same box, we fail to show that there are two separate claims making the conclusion more likely, not just one. For example, this diagram would be misleading:

Instead, we should draw this diagram:
This diagram is the same as the diagram for the initial version of the argument. So, we see that the diagram doesn't change when you put two claims into the same sentence rather than in separate sentences.

Sometimes, a sentence contains both the conclusion and a claim making the conclusion more likely, connected by a word such as "because".

Again, the diagram would look just the same. The structure of the argument doesn't change when the conclusion and a claim making it more likely are located in the same sentence.

If you have a sentence and you wonder whether it includes multiple claims, ask yourself: "Can I split this sentence into multiple sentences that can each stand on their own?" If the answer is yes, the sentence includes multiple claims. For example, you can split "Your team should focus on digital marketing because potential customers are increasingly spending time online." into two sentences that can each stand on their own: "Your team should focus on digital marketing." and "Potential customers are increasingly spending time online.".

Leave out unnecessary words

You might have noticed that we sometimes leave out words from sentences when we put them into diagrams. For example, we had the sentence "Also, digital marketing makes it easier to track the success of ad campaigns." and we only put "Digital marketing makes it easier to track the success of ad campaigns." into the diagram, leaving out the "Also". It's fine to leave out words such as "also" because they don't substantially change the meaning of the sentence. If you're unsure whether a word matters or not, leave it in. It might make the diagram a little more cluttered than necessary, but it won't do any harm.

Leave out unnecessary words

When people make arguments, they usually say things before, during, and after the argument that are neither the conclusion nor make the conclusion more likely. For example, imagine you receive this message from Kartik:

This message contains an argument for the conclusion that your team should focus on digital marketing. But many sentences in the message neither express the conclusion nor a claim that makes the conclusion more likely. For example, the fact that Kartik was previously opposed to the idea that your team should focus on digital marketing doesn't make it more likely that your team should focus on digital marketing. Such sentences are not part of the argument and can be ignored when thinking about the argument.

In fact, the argument contained in Kartik's message is exactly the same that he delivered more succinctly in our initial example. The diagram you would draw for the argument would look just the same. If you want to think about whether you find it plausible and how you might object to it, what's on the diagram is all you need to care about. This is another advantage of drawing diagrams: in addition to showing the structure of the argument, they filter out everything irrelevant to the argument, allowing you to focus on what matters.

Replace pronouns

Arguments often include pronouns such as "this" or "it". When you put the claims of the arguments in a diagram, you should replace pronouns with the nouns they refer to.

In the diagram for this argument, we should put "Digital marketing makes it easier to track the success of ad campaigns." in a box, not "It makes it easier to track the success of ad campaigns.". The reason for avoiding pronouns in the diagram is that once the arguments become more complicated, you might have a pronoun such as "it" occurring in multiple claims, referring to different things. If we replace, we avoid confusion over what "it" means.

Rewrite claims as assertions

When you put a claim into the diagram, you must make sure that it's something that can be true or false. Thest whether you've made a true or false statement by asking "Is it true that ...?" The sentence should make sense grammatically. Here are some examples:

  • What do you think about focusing on digital marketing?
    • This is not a claim because "Is it true that what do you think about focusing on digital marketing?" is not proper English.
  • Because our target audience increasingly spends time on digital platforms.
    • This is not a claim because "Is it true that because our target audience increasingly spends time on digital platforms?" is not proper English.
  • Our target audience increasingly spends time on digital platforms.
    • This is a claim because "Is it true that our target audience increasingly spends time on digital platforms?" is proper English.

Just because claims in the diagram must be true or false doesn't mean that the sentences themselves are true or false. Sometimes, sentences such as imperatives or questions, which are not true or false, indirectly point to a claim that is part of the argument. For example, consider this argument:

Neither of those sentences explicitly asserts a claim. Neither "Is it true that let us focus on digital marketing?" nor "Is it true that doesn't our target audience increasingly spend time on digital platforms?" is proper English. Nevertheless, both sentences indirectly point to claims that are part of the argument. The first sentence expresses the conclusion: that we should focus on digital marketing. The second sentence expresses a claim making the conclusion more likely: that our target audience increasingly spends time on digital platforms. Thus, the diagram for the argument would include those two claims.

Exercises

To practice identifying claims, draw diagrams for the arguments below.

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