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1.5 Use Sentences

When argument mapping, boxes should contain full, grammatical, declarative sentences. 

Use complete sentences, not words or phrases:

Correct

Use declarative sentences, not other kinds of sentences such as questions:

Correct

It is very tempting to just use a word or simple phrase instead of a full grammatical sentence.  This saves effort and space, and you feel as if you have the complete claim in your mind; all you need is a few words to indicate what claim belongs in that place.

However this is wrong.  Reasoning is made up of claims, and you can't properly express a claim in anything less than a full grammatical sentence.  Using a word or phrase creates a number of problems:

• You might never properly articulate the claim in your own mind.
• Somebody else reading the argument map has to try to guess what claim you had in mind, and often will guess incorrectly.
• As we will see later, without full sentences, you will not be able to apply some important principles of argument mapping.

Generally, using words or phrases rather than full sentences is sloppy thinking.

A declarative sentence is one which states a proposition which can be true or false.  Some kinds of sentences are not declarative; for example, questions don't state propositions.  Reasoning is a matter of the logical or evidential relationships among propositions, so you should always be using declarative sentences to express reasoning.

A declarative sentence is one which states an idea which can be true or false.

 Last updated 01-Mar-2007