Complete the Argument Questions

📑 On this page

⚡ The short answer

A complete-the-argument question stops mid-thought and asks which option most logically completes it. The word before the blank sets the job: therefore wants a conclusion, because a missing reason, but a turn. Predict the ending, then pick the option the premises support without saying more. The #1 trap: an on-topic option that doesn't follow.

🎬 The 30-second story

The voice note that cut off

“Flights are ₹14,000, CLAT is five weeks away, and last year's trip ate two mock weekends. So—”

🎙️

Aarav

Aarav's voice note about the Goa trip. The network dies.

“So Goa is overrated. Knew it.”

🏖️

Rohan

Rohan finishes it with a claim nobody made.

“So you'll all spend the weekend at my café!”

☕

Kabir

Kabir finishes it with his own plan.

“So we go after CLAT. Every reason he gave is about now.”

🗓️

Zoya

Zoya finishes it with what the reasons point to.

Tara's verdict: Every reason in the note says ‘not now’; none says ‘never’ or ‘café instead’. The right completion goes where the premises push, and no further.

How is ‘complete the argument’ worded, and has CLAT asked it?

ℹ️ An honest label

In our map of every CLAT UG Logical Reasoning question from 2018 to 2025, none uses this stem, so the questions here are labelled CLAT-style. The skill still pays: predicting where premises point drives main-point, inference and must-be-true questions, which CLAT asks in every paper.

You may see	What the blank needs
“Which most logically completes the argument?”	Usually the conclusion the premises build to.
“…Therefore, ____” / “So, ____”	A conclusion: forced, and no bigger than the premises.
“…because ____” / “since ____”	A missing reason that makes the stated conclusion follow.
“…But ____” / “Yet ____”	A turn: something that pushes against the sentence before.
“…unless ____” / “only if ____”	A condition: the one thing that changes the outcome.

→ scroll to see more

What does the blank really want?

🗺️ Argument map

Aarav's voice note, mapped

Premise 1

Return flights cost ₹14,000.

Premise 2

CLAT is five weeks away.

Premise 3

Last year's trip ate two mock weekends.

therefore↓

🎯 The blank

So… ________

What each new fact does

＋
So we go to Goa after CLAT
Completes it — every premise is about cost and timing now
−
So Goa is overrated
Overshoots — nothing says Goa itself is bad
∅
So let's spend the weekend at Kabir's café
Changes the subject — same weekend, zero support

The premises decide the ending.

📌 Two tests, every option

Does it follow? The premises must push towards it. Does it stop in time? It must claim no more than they support.

How do you complete an argument in 50 seconds?

1
Signal: read the word before the blank
Therefore, because, but, unless: it tells you whether the blank is a conclusion, a reason or a turn.
2
Map: strip the premises to one line each
Note which way each pushes, and any if or only.
3
Predict: say the ending in your own words
Before the options. A rough guess beats a perfect reread.
4
Test: follows, and stops in time
Plug each option in. Cut decoys, repeats, wrong turns and overshoots.

What are the four kinds of blank?

1. The conclusion blank (therefore…)

The commonest kind: premises given, ending missing. It must be forced, so prefer may, some, in this case over always, all.

🎚️ The scale

How far can the ending go?

← Says nothing newSays too much →

Repeat

restates a premise

e.g. ‘Flights are expensive’

Follows

what the premises force

e.g. ‘Go after CLAT’

Stretch

plausible, not forced

e.g. ‘No trips this year’

Overshoot

a new, bigger claim

e.g. ‘Trips are a waste’

2. The reason blank (because…)

Now the conclusion is stated and the blank must support it: a bridge that makes it follow. Unlike a conclusion blank, it may add a new fact.

⚔️ Side by side

Conclusion blank vs reason blank

🎯Therefore ____

supply the claim

•Premises given, ending missing

🌉Because ____

supply the support

•Ending given, a reason missing

Test	Therefore ____	Because ____
Support flows	passage → option	option → conclusion
New facts allowed?	No	Yes, if they bridge the gap

Same blank, opposite direction of support.

3. The turn blank (but, yet…) and 4. the condition blank (unless…)

A but promises a change of direction, so the blank must push against the sentence before; an option that keeps going is the usual trap. ‘The plan will fail unless ____’ wants the one thing whose absence sinks the plan.

🧩 At a glance

Five ways a completion goes wrong

🧲Topical decoy

Same subject, no support from the premises.

🔁Repeat

Restates a premise and completes nothing.

📢Overshoot

Goes past the premises: ‘all’, ‘always’, ‘ban’.

🔄Wrong direction

After ‘but’, keeps going; after ‘therefore’, argues back.

🛸New idea

A topic the passage never touched.

⚠️ The ‘sounds like an ending’ trap

Options with ‘clearly’ or a neat moral sound conclusive. Ignore the tone. A plain option the premises force beats a quotable one they don't.

Complete-the-argument questions, worked step by step

✍️ Worked example Warm-up ⏱ 25 sec

The samosa rule

“If the canteen runs out of samosas, it puts out bread pakoras. Today there were no bread pakoras on the counter. So ____.”
(A) the canteen did not run out of samosas (B) the canteen sold samosas all day (C) the canteen ran out of samosas (D) students prefer samosas

1
Signal: ‘So’: a conclusion blank.
2
Map: ran out → pakoras. No pakoras today.
3
Predict: had it run out, pakoras would be out. So it didn't run out.
4
Test: A. B overshoots: ‘didn't run out’ isn't ‘sold them all day’. C is the opposite. D is a new idea.

Answer: (A)

⚡ The exam-hall shortcut

‘If P then Q’ plus ‘not Q’ completes as ‘not P’.

✍️ Worked example CLAT level ⏱ 75 sec

The unpaid internship

“Many law firms still offer unpaid internships, and students accept them because an internship is the surest route to a job offer. Firms say interns gain more in training than they give, so payment would be charity. But consider who can say yes. An unpaid month in Mumbai can cost tens of thousands of rupees in rent and food. Students whose families can absorb that apply widely; the rest apply only where a relative can house them, or not at all. Firms then hire from their interns. So a firm ends up selecting the best young lawyers whose families could afford a free month. A firm that wants interns chosen for ability rather than their parents' bank balance, therefore, ____”
(A) should stop offering internships, since they only help the rich (B) should pay interns enough to cover the month (C) should recognise that interns gain more than they give (D) should recruit only students who never interned

1
Signal: ‘therefore’ after ‘a firm that wants X’: the fix that delivers X.
2
Map: unpaid → only the well-off apply → firms hire from them → selection by wealth.
3
Predict: remove the cost barrier: pay the interns.
4
Test: B. A overshoots: internships are unfair, not useless. C is the firms' view the ‘But’ answered. D is never discussed.

Answer: (B)

⚡ The exam-hall shortcut

When the middle of a passage is about a cause, the completion is the fix for that cause.

✍️ Worked example Tricky ⏱ 40 sec

The moot court puzzle

“Every member of the college moot court society has argued at least one national moot. Some members of the debating club are also in the moot court society. It follows that ____.”
(A) some debaters have argued a national moot (B) every debater has argued a national moot (C) everyone who has argued a national moot is in the moot society (D) some moot members are not debaters

1
Signal: ‘It follows that’: a strict conclusion.
2
Map: All moot members → national mooters. Some debaters → moot members.
3
Predict: the debaters in the moot society have argued a national moot.
4
Test: A. B turns ‘some’ into ‘every’. C reverses the first premise. D may be true but isn't forced.

Answer: (A)

⚡ The exam-hall shortcut

‘All A are B’ + ‘Some C are A’ → ‘Some C are B’. See the diagram.

⭕ Venn check

The moot puzzle, drawn

Statements

▸All Moot members are National mooters
▸Some Debaters are Moot members

Conclusions

Some Debaters are National mooters
✅ Definitely follows — Debaters inside the moot circle are inside the mooters circle too.
All Debaters are National mooters
🤔 Possible, not certain — Nothing forces it.
All National mooters are Moot members
🤔 Possible, not certain — The premise runs one way only.
Some Moot members are not Debaters
🤔 Possible, not certain — Every moot member might also debate.

shaded = empty× = at least one lives here

Can you complete these CLAT-style arguments?

Three CLAT-style questions, not past-paper ones, built like CLAT's argument passages. Solve each before opening the reasoning.

🧪 CLAT-style practice (not a past question) Conclusion blank

For a decade, the city's annual report has led with one number: saplings planted. Last year it was a record 12 lakh, and the mayor's office called the city ‘greener than ever’. The forest department's own audit disagrees. Fewer than one in three roadside saplings survived two summers, because no one was paid to water them after the planting ceremony. Satellite data shows tree cover has barely changed in ten years. Planting is cheap, photogenic and easy to count; keeping a tree alive for five years is none of those things. A city that reports the first and ignores the second ____

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

Ashould stop planting saplings, since most of them die

Bis measuring the effort it is proudest of, not the result it needs

Cwill see heat readings fall once the 12 lakh saplings mature

Dproves that satellite data beats audits

Reveal answer + reasoning

Answer: B

Signal: the blank completes a claim about the city's reporting habit. Map: planting is counted, survival isn't, cover hasn't grown. Predict: the city counts the wrong thing. B says it plainly. Tap the options below.

🔬 Option autopsy

Option autopsy: the sapling count

Guess the trap, then tap.

A should stop planting saplings, since most of them die Tag it

📢 Too strong / extreme

The passage blames neglect after planting, not planting.

B is measuring the effort it is proudest of, not the result it needs Tag it

✅ Correct

Exactly what ‘reports the first and ignores the second’ sets up.

C will see heat readings fall once the saplings mature Tag it

🔄 Opposite direction

Most saplings die within two summers, so most won't mature.

D proves that satellite data beats audits Tag it

🛸 Out of scope

Both sources agree; the passage never ranks them.

📢 Too strong / extreme✅ Correct🔄 Opposite direction🛸 Out of scope

Guess the trap behind each option, then tap to check. Wrong options fail in a handful of predictable ways.

🧪 CLAT-style practice (not a past question) Reason blank

Colleges that enforce a 75% attendance rule like to point out that students who attend regularly score higher. One college's figures are typical: students above 90% attendance averaged 68% marks; those below 60% averaged 51%. The college concludes that the rule improves learning and should be tightened to 85%. The figures, however, cannot carry that conclusion, because ____

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

Astudents who already care about their grades are also the ones most likely to attend, rule or no rule

Bthe gap between 68% and 51% is too large to be a coincidence

Csome students with low attendance still score well

Dan 85% rule would be harder for students to meet

Reveal answer + reasoning

Answer: A

Signal: ‘because’ after ‘cannot carry that conclusion’: say why the figures fail. Map: attendance and marks rise together, so the college credits the rule. Predict: something else, like motivation, could drive both. A names it.

Why the others fail

B — Opposite: it backs the college's reading.
C — Half-right: a few exceptions don't undo an average gap.
D — Beside the point: difficulty says nothing about cause.

🧪 CLAT-style practice (not a past question) Conclusion after a turn

Supporters of a four-day school week point to pilot schools where attendance rose and teachers reported less burnout. Parents surveyed at those schools were mostly happy too. But the pilot schools were all in towns where most parents work from home or on flexible shifts. In districts where both parents work fixed hours, a fifth weekday off means paid childcare or a child left alone. The pilot's success, then, ____

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

Aproves the four-day week should be adopted in every district

Bmay say more about the families it served than about the four-day week itself

Cshows that teacher burnout is the main problem in schools

Dwas caused by parents working from home

Reveal answer + reasoning

Answer: B

Signal: ‘But’ turns the passage; ‘then’ asks for the conclusion of that turn. Map: the pilot's families were unusual; fixed-hours families face childcare costs. Predict: the result may not travel. B, and modestly (‘may say more’).

Why the others fail

A — Wrong direction: the supporters' view the ‘But’ pushes against.
C — Overshoot: burnout is one benefit, mentioned once.
D — Too strong: unusual families don't prove they caused the results.

Which completion myths cost marks?

💥 Myth vs fact

Traps students fall for

🙅 Myth

The best completion is the most dramatic one.

Tap to bust it →

✅ Fact

The best one is what the premises force. Drama means overshoot.

🙅 Myth

If an option is true, it can complete the argument.

Tap to bust it →

✅ Fact

It must also follow. A true fact the premises don't point to is a topical decoy.

🙅 Myth

A completion can never add new information.

Tap to bust it →

✅ Fact

A conclusion blank can't. A ‘because’ blank can, if the new fact bridges the gap.

Quiz: finish these five

🎯 Quick quiz

Complete the argument quiz

0 / 5

Ride-hailing apps raise fares when demand spikes, and riders hate it. Yet surge pricing does something a flat fare cannot: it pulls drivers who were heading home back onto the road, exactly when riders are stranded. Cities that capped surges during festival weeks found waiting times doubled and complaints rose rather than fell. A cap protects riders from high fares only by ____

Q1. Which option best completes the passage?

The school's new rule bans packed lunches so that every student eats the canteen's ‘balanced meal’ instead. The principal says this will improve nutrition, since many tiffins are full of instant noodles and chips, and a fixed menu lets the school control what children eat. Many parents are not convinced by the plan, and they have a point, because ____

Q2. Which option best completes the passage?

Q3. ‘The library stays open past midnight only if twenty students sign the register. Last night it stayed open past midnight. Therefore ____’

Q4. A passage ends: ‘The plan looks cheap on paper. But ____.’ The blank must:

Q5. ‘Most users of a new revision app improve their mock scores. But most start using it just after joining a coaching batch. So ____’

🎯 Complete the argument in a nutshell

The word before the blank sets the job: conclusion, reason, turn or condition.
Signal → Map → Predict → Test, and predict before the options.
Two tests: does it follow, and does it stop in time?
A ‘because’ blank may add a fact; a ‘therefore’ blank may not.

📎 Cheat sheet

‘most logically completes’ + therefore/so → conclusion blank → where every premise points, modestly.
…because / since ____ → reason blank → what fact would make the stated conclusion follow?
…but / yet ____ → turn blank → push against the sentence before.
…unless / only if ____ → condition blank → the one thing whose absence sinks the claim.
‘If P then Q’ + not Q → not P. ‘P only if Q’ + P → Q.

Frequently asked questions

What are complete the argument questions?

They give an argument that stops at a blank and ask which option most logically completes it. Usually the blank is the conclusion, but it can be a missing reason after ‘because’ or a turn after ‘but’. The right option follows from the premises and claims no more.

Has CLAT asked complete the argument questions?

In our map of every CLAT UG Logical Reasoning question from 2018 to 2025, none uses this stem. The skill still matters: predicting where premises point is how you solve main-point, inference and must-be-true questions, which appear in every paper.

How do you choose the right option to complete an argument?

Read the word before the blank to see its job. Strip the premises to one line each, predict the ending in your own words, then test each option: does it follow, and does it stop before claiming more than the premises support?

Is completing an argument the same as finding an assumption?

Not quite. A conclusion blank is closer to an inference: the passage supports the option. A ‘because’ blank is closer to an assumption: the option supports the conclusion and may add a new fact to bridge the gap.