Order Doesn't Matter

Let me change up a tiny bit the set of claims we just looked at.

Tigers are very aggressive and can cause serious injuries to people. So, not every mammal is suitable to keep as a pet.

You can see that this is more or less copy-paste of the previous set of claims. I changed the order of the sentences and edited a few words.

Is this still an argument? Think for a second about this and go through the exercise yourself before reading on.

The answer is still yes. We are still looking at an argument and it's the same argument. Granted, the premise is now the first sentence and the conclusion the second. The support still flows from the premise to the conclusion.

This might seem pedantic but it's an important point. The order of presentation doesn’t matter. There’s no law that says “in an argument, you have to present the premise first and the conclusion last.” Nope. You can present it however you want. I personally have a preference. But the test writers don't give a shit about what I want. In fact, they intentionally mix up the order of premises and conclusion in an attempt to induce confusion.