Argument:

An argument is a connected series of statements or propositions, some of

which are intended to provide support, justification or evidence for the truth
of another statement or proposition. Arguments consist of one or
more premises and a conclusion. The premises are those statements that
are taken to provide the support or evidence; the conclusion is that which
the premises allegedly support.
Argument Form: In logic, the argument form or test form of an
arguement results from replacing the different words, or sentences, that
make up the argument with letters, along the lines of algebra; the letters
represent logical variables. The sentence forms which classify argument
forms of common important arguments are studied in logic.
Here is an example of an argument:
All humans are mortal. Socrates is human. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
We can rewrite argument by putting each sentence on its own line:
All humans are mortal.
Socrates is human.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
To demonstrate the important notion of the form of an argument, substitute
letters for similar items :
All S are P.
a is S.
Therefore, a is P.

Thus arguments are structural pieces of articulated critical reasoning. Every

argument must have a conclusion and a premise or some premises.

Deductive and Inductive Arguments

There are two types of arguments:
Deductive Argument: A deductive argument is an argument in which it is
thought that the premises provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion.
Here the premises are intended to provide support for the conclusion that is
so strong that, if the premises are true, it would be impossiblefor the
conclusion to be false.
Inductive Arguments: An inductive argument is an argument in which it is
thought that the premises provide reasons supporting the probable truth of
the conclusion. Here the premises are intended only to be so strong that, if
they are true, then it is unlikely that the conclusion is false.
Difference between Deductive and Inductive Argument:
The difference between the two comes from the sort of relation the author or
expositor of the argument takes there to be between the premises and the
conclusion. If the author of the argument believes that the truth of the
premises definitely establishes the truth of the conclusion due to definition,
logical entailment or mathematical necessity, then the argument
is deductive. If the author of the argument does not think that the truth of
the premises definitely establishes the truth of the conclusion, but
nonetheless believes that their truth provides good reason to believe the
conclusion true, then the argument is inductive.
Arguments have certain special characteristics:
1. Arguments are not claims.

2. Every set of claims is not an argument.

3. There is no fixed number of premises in the argument.
4. Format of an argument may not always be simple.
5. There may be unstated premises.
6. There can be missing premises.
7. Arguments have a standard format:
Premises
Therefore, Conclusion
To put arguments in the standard format, one has to do the
followings:
1. Separate the premises from the conclusion.
2. State, the premises first in a sequential order and, if necessary,
number them.
3. Then state the conclusion with a conclusion marker, such as the
symbol / or any of the conclusion-indicator words.
Recognizing and Argument:

4. Premise- indicator words: Since-For-Because-Given that.

5. Conclusion- indicator words: Therefore- Hence- It follows that-SoConsequently-Thus.