Argument is War.
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
His criticism were right on target.
I demolished his argument.
I’ve never won an argument with him.
You disagree? Okay, shoot!

— George Lakoff, Mark Johnson (Metaphors We Live By)

Is your goal to question your own thinking, to establish new connections, or to beat your metaphorical enemy in combat…, I mean argument? Chances are high that you already deploy rhetoric tricks, consciously or not. You may have noticed in your everyday interactions that some arguments “feel” more legit than others. Why is that so? Good arguments are not only valid, but sound, meaning that they are logically coherent as well as relevant and hopefully factual. So how do you avoid lousy formulations in your arguments? The answers are many but for starters you should beware of common fallacies.

A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or “wrong moves” in the construction of an argument. A fallacious argument may be deceptive by appearing to be better than it really is.

Wikipedia.org

If you engage in argumentation, there are some rhetorical fallacies you may want to avoid, depending on your motifs and the context of the situation you are in. Without further ado: Three Common Fallacies

Slippery Slope
In this rhetorical technique you construct a causal chain of propositions (events, hypothesis) which in the end automatically leads to an specific (mostly unwanted) outcome. The “Slippery Slope”, by its structure, implies a necessity of outcome which in actuality may be highly unlikely. Think of the “Snowball-Metaphor” to grasp its dynamic!

Still don’t really get what I’m talking about? For a great explanatory video, with examples, see this: https://youtu.be/yxylBjtzMNQ

Straw Man
This trick makes use of distorting (exaggerating, unfairly simplifying, …) the “opponents” argument. Instead of sincerely engaging with the other’s position, you reformulate their stance in your interest. You then go on attacking your own distorted formulation instead of the other’s intended ambition.

Want to have a more in-depth explanation or just some easy examples? This clip has them both: https://youtu.be/hfil34ayaEU

Loaded Question