GED Reasoning Through Language Arts
Evidence & Argument
An argument is a claim plus the reasons and evidence holding it up. These questions ask you to find the claim, judge whether the evidence actually supports it, and spot when a writer is leaning on feelings instead of facts.
The words first
- claim
- the statement the author wants you to accept
- evidence
- facts, statistics, studies, and examples offered as support
- reasoning
- the logic connecting the evidence to the claim
- counterargument
- the other side's best point, raised in order to answer it
The method
THE ANATOMY OF AN ARGUMENT
claim: School should start later.
evidence: Teens sleeping <7 hours fail 30% more classes (2019 study).
reasoning: Later starts → more sleep → better performance.
STRONG vs WEAK EVIDENCE
strong: specific, measurable, from a named source, on-topic
weak: "everyone knows", one personal story, emotion words,
statistics about a DIFFERENT question
THE SUPPORT TEST
For "which sentence best supports the claim":
restate the claim, then ask of each choice —
"if this is true, does the claim get MORE believable?"
Worked all the way through
The problem
Claim: "The city should add protected bike lanes." Which is the strongest support: (A) Bikes are fun, (B) Cities that added protected lanes saw cyclist injuries fall 40%, (C) Cars are annoying, (D) A cyclist said she'd like them?
- Step 1 — Restate the claim in your own words.Build the lanes — presumably because they make things better or safer.
- Step 2 — Apply the support test to each.A: fun is not a reason to build infrastructure. C: an opinion about cars, off-topic. D: one person's preference — a single anecdote.
- Step 3 — Check B.A specific, measurable outcome (injuries down 40%) from comparable cities, directly about protected lanes. If true, the claim gets much more believable.
On the board
claim: build protected lanes
A "fun" — not a policy reason
weak
C "cars annoying" — off topic
weak
D one cyclist's wish — anecdote
weak
B injuries −40% in similar cities
specific, measurable, on-topic ✓
Answer
B — the 40% injury statistic
A second one, in a different form
"Thousands of concerned parents can't be wrong — this curriculum must go." What is weak about this argument?
evidence offered: many people feel this way
popularity ≠ proof
crowds are wrong all the time
no facts about the curriculum itself
weakness: appeals to popularity, not evidence
Answer
It substitutes popularity and emotion for evidence about the curriculum
The usual mistake
Accepting evidence that is true and related but measures the wrong thing.
Check yourself
Judge evidence by asking "if this fact is true, does the claim get more believable?" — not by whether you personally agree with the claim. The test grades the connection, not your opinion.
Practice it
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