ratiocination
/ɹˌæɾɪˌɑːsᵻnˈeɪʃən/
nounthe process of logical thinking or reasoning
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Examples
1. Part of diagram's persuasive power lies in their uncanny ability to both mimic and to structure the process of ratiocination itself.
2. The cautious old gentleman knit his brows tenfold closer after this explanation, being sorely puzzled by the ratiocination of the syllogism, while, methought, the one in pepper-and-salt eyed him with something of a triumphant leer.
3. He is enlightened with a wisdom which is as superior to ratiocination, as reason is to animality.
4. In ratiocination, not less than in literature, it is the epigram which is the most immediately and the most universally appreciated.
5. But let it not for a moment be supposed that, in proceeding with the sad narrative of Marie from the epoch just mentioned, and in tracing to its dénouement the mystery which enshrouded her, it is my covert design to hint at an extension of the parallel, or even to suggest that the measures adopted in Paris for the discovery of the assassin of a grisette, or measures founded in any similar ratiocination, would produce any similar result.
to score points
/skˈoːɹ pˈɔɪnts/
phraseto gain advantage over others by doing or saying something that receives a positive reaction, especially in an argument
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Examples
1. Here are the rules: as with normal foosball, the object is to score points by spinning levers with tiny players to sink the ball in your opponent’s goal.
2. He was determined to bring the job in ahead of schedule in order to score points with Hitler.
3. Then you put them in a stadium and have them fire plastic bullets at each other to score points.
4. Then you put them in a stadium and have them fire plastic bullets at each other to score points.
5. but, you know, whatever it is, this is a time to say, listen, I can score points and you can score points.
to score off
/skˈoːɹ ˈɔf/
verbto try to prove that one is more clever than someone else by making witty remarks
Examples
to signpost
/ˈsaɪnˌpoʊst/
verbto clearly demonstrate something, especially the way that an argument, speech, etc. will develop so that everyone will notice and understand
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Examples
1. The roads are poorly signposted.
2. There are no signposts.
3. It was signposted, in places like Salem.
4. We need signposts.
5. And testing breakaway signpost pillars.
signposting
/sˈaɪnpoʊstɪŋ/
nounthe process of showing or understanding how something such as a speech or argument is organized or is going to develop
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Examples
1. My first book for Harvard University Press, I had a copy editor who warned me about the academician's habit of metadiscourse and excessive signposting.
2. The problem being that the reader has to expend so much effort understanding the signposting that they have totally lost track of the actual narrative.
3. So just to summarize, the sins of academic writing, as Helen so expertly pointed out, include zombie nouns, that is, abstract nominalizations, excessive abstraction in general, passive constructions, hedging, apologizing, excessive signposting.
4. The practical upshot is that the idea of signposting has been a neglected part of, let's say, Anglo American legal and political traditions.
5. You mentioned that there is a lack of signposting as part of the American legislative process.
to slant
/ˈsɫænt/
verbto interpret or present information with a subjective point of view or bias
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Examples
1. The slant kinda gets in between
2. Do they slant?
3. So the scale is slanted and backwards.
4. So you slant this slant.
5. So you slant this slant.
sophist
/sˈɑːfɪst/
nounsomeone that is skilled in devious argumentation
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Examples
1. Jefferson's opinion was that that Marshall was a sophist that he would take any statement and twist it into some predetermined judicial conclusion Marshall warned Joseph Story before he got on the Supreme Court he said you must never give a direct answer to any question that Marshall asks you if he asked me if the Sun were shining I would say I don't know sir I cannot tell.
2. He was a brilliant man apparently, he had been trained by the great rhetorician and sophist Gorgias and he was also in the circle of Socrates, along with Plato and Xenophon and various other bright young men of the upper classes in Athens.
3. I'm just a simple Spartan is what he's implying, unlike these con men, unlike these sophist that you've been listening to.
4. The ancient Greek philosophers struggled and often failed to provide solid ground for written law's authority, and the sophists attacked conventional law and morality as arbitrary and meaningless.
5. But Plato's Socrates is necessarily poles apart from Aristophanes' Socrates depiction of him as a sort of sophist who makes the weaker argument the stronger.
sophistry
/ˈsɔfɪˌstɹi/
nounthe clever use of arguments that seem correct and convincing but are actually false in order to deceive people
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Examples
1. So part of the statistical sophistry that's going on here is a call for an intervention on one hand, a call for neglect on the other, and the neglect being predicated on somehow the racial disparity being so excessive that it's proof of the underlying moral degeneracy of the entire group.
2. Every once in a while, this is the problem with sophistry and pseudo intellectual ism that every once in a while some idea that people who don't read history or philosophy or political science or whatever, they have no frame of reference.
3. Those tokens which he had hitherto considered as proofs of a frightful peculiarity in her physical and moral system were now either forgotten, or, by the subtle sophistry of passion transmitted into a golden crown of enchantment, rendering Beatrice the more admirable by so much as she was the more unique.
4. Hey, Legal Eagles, it's time to think like a lawyer, because the first day of the impeachment trial in the Senate was filled with all kinds of lawyer skills and complete sophistry.
special pleading
/spˈɛʃəl plˈiːdɪŋ/
nounan unfair attempt to persuade someone by only giving them facts that are in line with one's point of view
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Examples
1. That value, which is so important for enriching our lives, why shouldn't it be included in economic reasoning in a natural way, as opposed to constantly have to do special pleading, protest marches and so forth?
to split hairs
/splˈɪt hˈɛɹz/
phraseto highlight insignificant details or small distinctions between two things
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Examples
1. Really, that's like splitting hairs these days and it comes down to personal preference.
2. Now this might seem like splitting hairs, but there are reasons why they might be shy about making this call.
3. I mean, I'm not trying to split hairs and duck the question, but the reality is that we tend to be way more accepting of women who come out than men.
4. - I think we're at the point now where we're splitting hairs finely enough, that it's pretty clear that either of these TVs with 15 seconds in the menu you could get to whatever look you want.
5. It's maybe not quite as precise as I would like, but kind of splitting hairs here.
summing-up
/sˈʌmɪŋˈʌp/
nounthe judge's summary near the end of a trial in court, specifically to remind the jury of the evidence and the main arguments concerning the case
Examples
to sum up
/sˈʌm ˈʌp/
verbto briefly state the most prominent parts or facts of something
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Examples
1. The 1474 Venetian patent statute sums up the economic rationale of patent law pretty nicely.
2. His coach though, summed up the last few months.
3. With patriotic banners, gigantic portraits of Supreme Leaders, and a characteristically-small number of pedestrians, these shots sum up the isolation and ghostliness of the famously-reclusive hermit nation.
4. The TIPNIS highway project sums up the Bolivian struggle.
5. My favorite quote of all time sums up this concept quite well.
to support
/səˈpɔɹt/
verbto provide evidence or information in order to prove that something, especially a claim or idea is true
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Examples
1. Support the base of the topper-- - Turn around.
2. People are still supporting artists.
3. supports the nighttime habit of creation.
4. The numbers support access to abortion.
5. Support our leader!
to sustain
/səˈsteɪn/
verbto support an opinion, argument, theory, etc. or to prove it's credibility
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Examples
1. Mammals can sustain pursuit.
2. - Sustained!
3. This fact sustained the battering ram as the most effective siege weapon of the era.
4. These margarita cups easily sustained a couple of clunks against the shelf.
5. Per the statement, "the vehicle sustained major damage."
syllogism
/sˈɪlədʒˌɪzəm/
nouna type of logical argument that uses deductive reasoning to conclude based on two premises claimed or supposed to be true
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Examples
1. Thus, a truly American syllogism was born.
2. The square was applied to such standard topics as the relations of propositions, the construction of syllogisms, the mathematics of musical intervals, and the relationship of elements within natural philosophy.
3. That's Nozick's little syllogism.
4. And she said the syllogism that she just told you.
5. As he puts it, there's a famous syllogism that people learn in their logic classes from Aristotle.
talking point
/tˈɔːkɪŋ pˈɔɪnt/
nouna topic of interest, especially one that supports a particular argument that invites discussion
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Examples
1. That is like a police department talking point.
2. They have talking points.
3. It's sequential talking points.
4. This gives talking points to both sides.
5. Okay, so the first talking point that we have.
the balance of evidence
/ðə bˈæləns ʌv ˈɛvɪdəns/
phrasethe most probable result or answer obtained from the evidence on both sides of an argument
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Examples
1. Well, they decided that the balance of probability was that it was indeed Cromwell's head.
2. The balance of evidence suggests that these are healthy foods, these are unhealthy foods.
the thrust
/ˈθɹəst/
noun(of an argument, policy, etc.) the main point that shows the main idea or intention of what someone is saying or doing
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Examples
1. The controls, rudder pedal, thrust levers and fuel switches.
2. Thrust with your hips.
3. A decade and a half after its commercial failure, irony-poisoned teens thrust the game back into the cultural consciousness with powerful shitposts.
4. I put reverse thrust
5. - Thrusting from the ground.
to start with
/tə stˈɑːɹt wɪð/
phraseused when stating the first and foremost reason that needs to be mentioned or considered
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Examples
1. It's a lot easier and quicker to start with a tried and true platform and make modifications to it to convert into an unmanned aircraft than is to start from scratch.
2. It's been hard to tackle teacher compensation right now because there's so low to start with that there's always this feeling that any solution, somebody loses.
3. Overall, I always like to start with the easiest, most obvious solutions.
4. To understand how we got here, we need to start with the fact that 40 percent of people in the United States cannot afford a four hundred dollar emergency cost.
5. Or at least your science projects to start with.
touché
/tʌʃˈeɪ/
interjectionused humorously to show that someone has made a good point in an argument or discussion
Examples
1. It hired Deloitte and Touche as its independent auditor in the spring of 2009.
2. "That's touché."
3. I'm like, touche.
4. - Um, which poor guy are you talking about? - Touche.
5. Touche, dude.
unanswerable
/ˌəˈnænsɝəbəɫ/
adjective(of an argument or claim) impossible to refute or disagree with because of being clearly true
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Examples
1. Taken together, these results mean that there are unanswerable questions in mathematics.
2. And it's an unanswerable question.
3. It is unanswerable.
4. Don't you like unanswerable questions?
5. It's almost an unanswerable question.
unarguable
/ʌnˈɑːɹɡjuːəbəl/
adjectivenot open to argument or disagreement
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Examples
1. And in their engagement, they agree with some, I would say, unarguable assumptions of respect between bearers of dignity.
2. Optimism is not fluff, it's not some woo woo idea, it's not some happy clappy, unrealistic view of the world, it's an equally available interpretation of the realistic and logical facts, the facts are unarguable.
unarguably
/ʌnˈɑːɹɡjuːəbli/
adverbin a way that can not be disputed or disagreed with
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1. Along with the story, the technical aspects of the film are unarguably stunning, from Martin Ruhe's cinematography to Alexandre Desplat's heartbreaking score.
2. This decision by Warner Bros. to move forward on a Nightwing movie unarguably rules out any Joseph Gordon-Levitt Robin plans.
3. Isaac Newton is unarguably the number one scientist in the world.
unchallengeable
/ʌntʃˈælɪndʒəbəl/
adjective(of a belief, idea, etc.) impossible to oppose or argue with
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1. Well, these seizures of church land were probably intended by Thomas Cromwell to endow the crown in perpetuity with massive land holdings which would render it absolutely unchallengeable and indeed might even render it independent of any grants of taxation from Parliament.
to underpin
/ˈəndɝˌpɪn/
verbto back up or form the basis of an argument by providing support
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Examples
1. And his oath—“do no harm”—still underpins medical education.
2. For centuries, entitlement and privilege have underpinned the country’s rural landscape.
3. Of course quantum mechanics underpins life at some molecular level.
4. This underpins interest rates across the UK.
5. That theory underpins modern investing.
underpinning
/ˈəndɝˌpɪnɪŋ/
nouna set of opinions, motives, or ideas that serve as a foundation of an argument, claim, etc.
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1. And have really good conceptual underpinning on them.
2. A neighbor just a mile away built a similar underpinning, only to see the rear of her home collapse.
3. Also the Android underpinnings here are built on the older Marshmallow.
4. So to me, they all bear the same mechanistic underpinning.
5. Underpinning space management is following distance.
weak point
/wˈiːk pˈɔɪnt/
nouna flaw or imperfection in one's character that makes one vulnerable
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Examples
1. Now, the back has a lot of weak points.
2. The camera is definitely a weak point on this phone.
3. Dead center is the weakest point.
4. Benching was my weakest point.
5. That lump on the creature’s back is its weak point.
while
/ˈhwaɪɫ/, /ˈwaɪɫ/
conjunctiondespite the fact that; even though
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Examples
1. After a while, companies wanted to find a way to include more information in the bar code.
2. Lost in the world of imagination, I forgot my sad, lonely existence for a while, and was happy.
3. While some wealthy homeowners can afford private firefighting crews, the vast majority of firefighters work for the government.
4. You cover for them at work while they're on sick leave.
5. While another cafe simply makes donuts.
whilst
/ˈwaɪɫst/
conjunctionused to indicate a contrast between two things
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Examples
1. Whilst, stupidly, Jeremy went for the longer route.
2. The symmetry is what keeps the ball from wobbling whilst in flight.
3. Whilst we gobble up the rest of these.
4. My sister did this with my niece by holding her in that football hold whilst directly in front of a mirror.
5. - My first kiss is whilst eighth grade.
there
/ˈðɛɹ/
adverbused to refer to a stage or point reached by a particular process or activity
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Examples
1. There are about five million people in Scotland.
2. There is oil and gas in the sea between Scotland and Norway.
3. There are long, white, empty beaches here and the 5,000-year-old stone circle at Callanish.
4. A colleague was physically there.
5. There is a garrote around his neck.
to wipe the floor with sb
/wˈaɪp ðə flˈoːɹ wɪð ˌɛsbˈiː/
phraseto completely beat someone in an argument or competition, particularly in a humiliating way
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Examples
1. You might mop the floor with your mop, an important activity for hardwood floors.