Alternative Indicator Words
2/2/06
The examples of arguments in English that have been given thus far have had the form
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.Therefore,
Socrates is mortal.
This form is definitely something of an ideal case. In practice we rarely use the word 'therefore', and there are plenty of arguments that do not have exactly two premises, and, indeed, there are real world arguments where the conclusion comes first and the premises come later.
Here is a list [from Bergmann's The Logic Book, supplemented by some from Copi's Introduction to Logic] of 'indicator' or 'pointing' words that you might see:
therefore
thus
it follows that
so
hence
consequently
as a result
accordingly
in consequence
proves that
for this reason
we may infer
which shows/means/entails/implies thatsince
for
because
on account of
inasmuch as
for the reason
as
as shown by
may be inferred/derived/deduced from
in view of the fact that
So you may see our earlier example appear as 'Socrates is mortal, because Socrates is a man and all men are mortal.'
You should find it fairly easy to parse arguments into their zero or more premises and exactly one conclusion.