It is commonly assumed that . . .
It is very documented that . . .
It is widely agreed that . . .
These phrases are kind of hard to pick up since they do not mention any one person.
Hidden Premises
In certain arguments, one of the premises might be hidden in unusual places of the argument. Look at the following example:
Ming Li is smarter than Ying Zhang. Therefore, because smarter people earn more money, Ming earns more money than Ying.
The first sentence is a premise. The second sentence put two signal wordstherefore and because together. As a result, the second premise (smarter people earn more money) is hidden because test takers often treat everything after the indicatortherefore as a conclusion.
Whenever the test makers put a premise in the middle of a sentence, they offset it with commas. Everything between the two commas is a premise. Examples are:
Therefore, because premise X, conclusion Y.
Thus, since premise X, conclusion Y.
So, due to premise X, conclusion Y.
Accordingly, given that premise X, conclusion Y.
In all of the above examples, the conclusion introduce by the signal words comes at the very end of the sentence.
Concessions
To make an argument stronger, a good advocate or debater or writer would concede a weakness of his or her viewpoints to show that they understand the big picture and to preempt a counterargument, if any, from their critics. For example:
Although a very high GPA might not guarantee an offer from a top MBA program,you should aim to get a GPA as high as possible in college if you want to enroll in a MBA program. A high GPA in college is something an admission committee advisor would like to see in the incoming MBA students.
The conclusion (you should aim to get a GPA as high as possible in college) is supported by the premise (A high GPA in college is something an admission committee advisor would like to see in the incoming MBA students.) But as you might have noticed, the first clause (very high GPA might not guarantee an offer from a top MBA program) actually hurts the argument. It is one reason you should NOT aim to get a high GPA in college. The author concedes this point to preempt one objection a critic might raise, such as “a high GPA only indicates book-smart” or “many candidates with high GPA get rejections from top MBA programs.” He is saying “I know high GPA is not sufficient, but it might be necessary. So I still think you should get a high GPA.” This evidence, in his mind, still outweighs the counter evidence a critic might proclaim.
Concessions are often introduced by although, even though, but, however, yet anddespite.
