The one-sentence truth: To understand an argument, you must see not only what the writer says, but what must be true for the reasoning to work.
Paper 2 passages contain claims, evidence and hidden bridges. Those bridges are often assumptions: unstated propositions that connect a reason to a conclusion.
Core vocabulary
Claim: assertion. Premise: proposition supporting reasoning. Assumption: something taken for granted. Warrant: principle connecting evidence to claim. Inference: conclusion drawn. Qualification: limit on scope. Counterclaim: competing position.
Find the main claim
Ask what the writer wants you to accept by the end of the paragraph or passage. Supporting details may be interesting but secondary.
Separate evidence from reasoning
A statistic is evidence. The conclusion drawn from it is inference. The principle explaining why the statistic supports the conclusion is the warrant. Keeping these separate helps you detect overreach.
Expose assumptions
“Governments should restrict misinformation because people are easily misled” assumes both that people cannot adequately correct errors themselves and that government intervention can improve the information environment without unacceptable costs. These assumptions can be tested separately.
Test alternative explanations
If a writer links social media to loneliness, ask whether loneliness might also increase social-media use or whether a third factor influences both. Alternative explanations do not automatically defeat the claim, but they reduce certainty.
Watch for changes in criteria
An argument may begin by judging a policy on effectiveness and later defend it on popularity. That shift can create inconsistency unless explained.
Argument mapping
Write the passage as: claim → reason → evidence → assumption → conclusion → qualification. This simple map often reveals the passage more clearly than line-by-line paraphrase.
From summary to analysis
Summary: “The writer says technology makes people less independent.”
Analysis: “The writer’s argument depends on the assumption that convenience reduces capability rather than freeing attention for more valuable tasks; without evidence for that behavioural effect, the inference remains incomplete.”
Paper 2 comparison
When two writers disagree, identify whether the disagreement concerns facts, causal mechanisms, values, assumptions or the weight assigned to evidence. “They have different opinions” is only the surface.
Seven-day drill
- Identify main claims.
- Separate premises and evidence.
- Write hidden assumptions.
- Find alternative explanations.
- Track criteria.
- Map two opposing passages.
- Complete a timed argument-analysis set.
Continue the JC2 GP vocabulary system
Return to General Paper Vocabulary Year 2 (JC2) and Vocabulary for Junior College (JC1–JC2).
Final thought
An assumption is where an argument quietly asks for your trust. JC2 reading learns to inspect that request.