Premises And Conclusions

Worksheet Description

The Deductive Reasoning worksheet is an exercise that prompts students to fill in either a missing premise or a conclusion to complete a logical argument. Each item on the worksheet presents part of a syllogism—a logical structure used in deductive reasoning consisting of two premises followed by a conclusion. For example, the first item provides the conclusion “Ellen will not be able to go to school today” and the premise “Ellen is sick,” and students must deduce the missing premise that connects the two.

The worksheet is designed to teach students the mechanics of syllogistic reasoning by having them identify the missing components in various deductive arguments. It challenges students to use critical thinking to infer the unstated parts of an argument that are necessary for the conclusion to logically follow from the premises. This practice helps students understand how different statements relate to each other within a logical framework and improves their ability to form coherent arguments. It also reinforces the principle that in deductive reasoning, if the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true.