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delaenajoy February 8, 2020

Principle vs. Conclusion

Hi, I'm having a difficult time with the distinction between the principle that leads to the conclusion and the conclusion itself. Reading the other discussions for this question, I can now understand why the first sentence referenced in the question stem is the conclusion. However, I'm still struggling to distinguish the conclusion from the principle. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Skylar February 8, 2020

@delaenajoy, happy to help!

Here are a few words that normally introduce or indicate a premise:
- since
- because
- given that
- for
- for the reason that
- in that
- as indicated by
- may be inferred from
- as

Here are a few words that normally introduce or indicate a conclusion:
- therefore
- hence
- thus
- consequently
- it follows that
- so
- accordingly
- it can be concluded that
- we may infer
- for this reason
- as a result

In addition to familiarizing yourself with the above lists, I would recommend asking yourself "which one of these statements supports the other?" when you are trying to identify the conclusion. The statement that supports another statement is the premise, while the statement that is supported by all other parts of the passage and that does not work in turn to support another statement is the conclusion. The order in which these statements are presented does not matter. The more you practice with these tips in mind, the clearer identifying conclusions should become!

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any other questions.

delaenajoy February 9, 2020

Thanks for the help! So, does that mean that when an answer choice asks for the basic principle that the argument is based on, it's referring to the premise?

HannahC February 5, 2021

I tho k you were left hanging so I wanted to try to help you out.

To your question: Maybe A PREMISE but not necessarily THE premise. The questions that ask for the principle are typically looking for the statement that we can (with our sufficient and necessary if/then rules) identify a version of an 'if then" statement.

I hope that clarifies it a little bit. It took me a while to get it too.