The United States government generally tries to protect valuable natural resources. But one resource has been ignored...

Mehran January 13, 2018

Hi @victoriac, thanks for your post. This stimulus presents an argument. The main point of this argument is that the federal government's expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs are at "ridiculously low levels." This is answer choice (E).

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

victoriac January 23, 2018

Thanks Mehran, but I was speaking in general. Do you have tips for identifying the premise and the conclusion in general?

drnissen82 January 23, 2018

Victoria, I am having the same difficulties in my studies. In one of the other message boards on this question I just read a sentence that I am finding particularly helpful. It said The conclusion of an argument will never support any other sentence. So if you are having difficulty trying to figure out which is the conclusion and which is the premise, just see if what you think is the conclusion can be used to support any other statement in the passage.

Mehran January 24, 2018

Hey @victoriac. Practice is key here. For each and every stimulus, make yourself identify whether it is an argument, and if it is, underline what you think the conclusion is. Remember that a conclusion is supported by one or more premises. Sometimes (but not always) conclusions are introduced by words like "thus," "therefore," "hence," "accordingly" or "so." Premises are introduced by words like "since," or "because," for example.

You will find that on those questions where you misidentify either the conclusion or the premise(s), you often end up with the wrong answer. Studying these mistakes, and looking hard at each and every stimulus, will allow you, over time, to develop confidence in your ability to correctly identify these key argument components.

Best of luck!