Questions at argument are the panel thinking aloud, and recognising the type of question changes the answer that should be given.
The friendly question offers a proposition helpful to your side, often to persuade a colleague. Accept it, confirm it briefly, and add the record support. Do not argue past it.
The concern. A judge identifies a weakness. Address it directly. The worst response is to restate the strength of another point.
The line-drawing question. Where does your rule stop? Have a limiting principle prepared and stated in one sentence. An answer suggesting no limit invites a ruling against you on facts not before the court.
The record question. What does the record show? Know the citation. An inability to answer is remembered.
The disposition question. What should we do if we agree with you in part? This signals a likely outcome and is an opportunity to shape the remand.
The hypothetical. Answer it on its own terms, then distinguish. Refusing to engage is transparent and costly.
Silence from one judge means nothing reliable.
After argument. Do not file a supplemental brief unless genuinely new authority has issued, and confine it to the citation and a sentence of relevance.