Chapter 6 in PCT is all about organization and classification of arguments to make them easier to understand and dissect. Using letters or symbols to represent parts of the argument is actual really helpful to my understanding. This sort of logical thinking brings me back to high school geometry and proofs. It is important to know the building blocks of arguments because pretty much every argument ever made is comprised of these same basic elements. Once we know the basic four connectors–conjunction, disjunction, negation, and conditional–we can start to translate words to symbols and vice versa.

In chapter 7, we learn about subject and predicate relationships and how to place a statement into one of the four standard forms. It is important when assessing statements to fill in the missing or implied words before trying to dissect it further. Although sometimes it may seem very obvious, it is better to write it out fully to avoid any sort of confusion. I think that its funny how we can categorize even the most ridiculous of statements, regardless of whether or not they hold truth. The Venn diagrams are a helpful tool especially for someone like me who is a visual learner. When there are more statements and premises the diagrams get a little bit more confusing, but I think practicing with them and filling in each part step-by-step will help ease this confusion over time.