HSPT: Argument: claim, reasons and the other side
Learn to break an argument into its claim, its reasons, its response to objections and its limits, so you can answer questions about what a writer recommends and how the writer handles disagreement.
How do you answer questions about how a writer builds an argument or responds to an objection?
Short answer
Find the claim, the reasons and any objection the writer admits. The right answer keeps the writer's exact position, including its limits and the way the writer answers the other side.
Know first: Author's purpose: recommending versus explaining, Main idea of a passage
Step 1 of 5
An argument has parts
An argument tries to convince you. It has a claim (what the writer thinks should happen) and reasons that support it. Strong arguments also admit an objection, a reason someone might disagree, and then answer it.
Careful writers add limits: a first step, a test or a condition. Those limits are part of the claim. Many HSPT questions turn on them: What does the writer recommend first? or How does the writer address a concern?
| Part | What it does | Signal words |
|---|---|---|
| Claim | States what the writer wants | should, we need to, it's time to |
| Reason | Explains why | because, since, this would |
| Objection | Admits a concern from the other side | some argue, it's true that, one problem is |
| Response | Answers the objection | however, but, even so, we could |
| Limit | Narrows the claim to a first step or test | first, for one month, if ... then |
Step 2 of 5
Map an argument
A short argument
Our school should add a ten-minute reading period1 after lunch. Students who read every day2 tend to read faster and with better understanding. Some teachers worry3 that the period would cut into class time. To answer that concern, we could take five minutes from homeroom and five from the end of lunch, so no class loses a minute4.
- The claim.
- The reason.
- The objection: lost class time.
- The response: a plan that removes the concern.
Worked example: The reading period
Using the passage above: How does the writer address the teachers' concern?
- ABy saying the teachers' concern is unimportant
- BBy agreeing to drop the reading period
- CBy asking students to vote on the plan
- DBy proposing a schedule that takes the time from homeroom and lunch
- 1
Find the objection
Teachers worry the period would cut into class time.
- 2
Find the response
Take five minutes from homeroom and five from lunch, so classes keep their time.
- 3
Match it
D describes that plan. That's the answer.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
A is the opposite: the writer takes the concern seriously. B distorts the plan; the writer keeps the period at ten minutes. C invents a vote that the passage never mentions.
Answer
D. By proposing a schedule that takes the time from homeroom and lunch
Wrong: The writer says the teachers are wrong.
Right: The writer agrees the concern is real and plans around it.
Admitting an objection and answering it is different from dismissing it. Read the sentence right after the concern.
Step 3 of 5
Find the claim and the response
Check yourself · Question 1
The town should build a bike lane on Maple Avenue. Many students ride to school along that road, and cars pass close to them. A full lane on every street would be expensive, so the town could start with Maple, where the most students ride, and study the results before adding more.
What does the writer recommend doing first?
Answer: B
The writer limits the claim: start with Maple, where the most students ride, then study the results. B keeps that limit.
Trap answer: Building bike lanes on every street in town
Drops the limit
- Why it looks right
- The writer clearly supports bike lanes, so more lanes sounds like the writer's view.
- Why it's wrong
- The writer rejects that plan as too expensive and recommends one street first.
- The right answer
- Building a bike lane on Maple Avenue and studying the results, which keeps the writer's first step.
Check yourself · Question 2
Our class should collect used batteries for recycling. Some classmates point out that batteries can leak and are unsafe to store in a cardboard box. That's a fair point. We could ask the science teacher for a sealed plastic bin and empty it into the town's collection site every Friday.
How does the writer address the classmates' objection?
Answer: D
The writer calls the concern a fair point, then offers a sealed bin and weekly emptying. D names both moves.
Common mistake
Describing the writer's position as more extreme than it is.
- Why it's tempting
- Arguments sound forceful, so a forceful choice seems to match.
- Do this instead
- Find the limits: a first step, a test period, a condition. The right choice keeps them.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- Break the argument into claim, reasons, objection, response and limits.
- When the writer admits a concern, the answer usually describes the next sentence: the response.
- Keep the writer's limits. Choices that drop the first step or test period are usually wrong.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, what objection does the writer admit, and what does the writer propose in response?