INFERENCE INDICATORS
Inference indicators are expressions which precede
a premise or conclusion of an argument. Inference indicators are the easiest way to identify an argument. They are road signs that the writer uses to
alert the reader about the logical relationships that are claimed to hold
between statements. Some indicators are
more common than others. While many
premise indicators function grammatically as conjunctions and many conclusion
indicators are adverbs, grammatical function is not a reliable guide to logical
function. Some indicators are logically
dyadic (requiring two statements), e.g., “since” and “because.” In such cases, the indicator picks out the
expression that follows immediately after the indicator. Consider the argument, “Because Jesus was a
human being, he must have had kidneys.”
Here, “Jesus was a human being” is the premise of the argument while
“Jesus must have had kidneys” is the conclusion.
The following list is not exhaustive.
There are many more variations. Quickly commit the list to memory and you
will have a basic mastery of the anatomy of arguments in ordinary language in
both your reading and your writing.
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Premise Indicators |
Conclusion Indicators |
Expressions that are not |
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inference indicators |
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as since for because as shown by follows from as indicated by being that being as inasmuch as in the first place given that suppose that seeing that for the reasons that in view of the fact that on the correct supposition
that assuming that may be inferred from may be derived from may be concluded from may be deduced from whereas |
consequently therefore which shows that proves that as a result hence so implies that entails that accordingly these facts indicate that this supports the view
that points to the conclusion
that allows us to infer that suggests very strongly
that leads me to believe that bears out the point that thus demonstrates that it follows that in this way one sees that clearly, then obviously, then the conclusion is that this is the reason that |
and but however yet still if … then … (in most uses) besides also although moreover on the contrary in fact clearly one can see that similarly too also now finally first, second, etc. it is clear that it is obvious that |
Copyright Ó 1980-2008
Daryl Close
All rights reserved
Available at http://bright.net/~dclose/ctinfer.htm