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Argument is a structured phenomenon, the structuring of which is evident in conversational activity. This study begins with speech act analyses of argumentation and examines the was in which idealized models of argumentation relate to the linguistic behaviour of participants in argument as talk. While a speech act understanding of arguments reveals some of the basic principles of the ways in which arguments are constructed as talk, sequencing patterns of arguments are interactionally accomplished. Speakers produce turns which are related to their purpose in talking and which include speech act complexes appropriate for the perlocutionary act of convincing. This limits the range of choices for a speaker in the sequence of interaction. Turns which do not count as appropriate for the task of arguing are accountable.