In the Manhattan GMAT CATs...

There are a few q's for the CR sections that have the 2 boldface sentences and require the reader to identify the roles that each sentence plays within the context of the argument.

Could someone clarify what these parts mean? I noticed these words are very common in the answer choices.

Premise - (what is the definition of this? how can we identify it? is there more than one?,etc.)
Conclusion - "
Consideration - "
Assumption - "
Assertion - "

Thank you advance...

This is of Analyze Argument Structure Type. First and foremost thing you need to do is identify the Conclusion in the statement.
After that, take the two bold sentences and check what role does the two sentences play.


Thanks

well...

i'm going to assume that you know what 'conclusion' means -- basically, the main point that the argument is trying to make. if you don't understand what the conclusion is, then you need to start at the very beginning of our critical reasoning strategy guide and read every page of it.

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here are some general properties shared by most CONCLUSIONS:
- usually more general than the rest of the argument (most, but not all, conclusions are generalizations reached from very specific statements made earlier)
- always CLAIMS (i.e., not factual information - the conclusion has to be a statement that needs an argument in the first place)
- sometimes prefaced by signal words ('thus', 'therefore', and the like)

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premises are the statements used to establish the conclusion.
if the basic structure of the argument is 'x, y, and z, therefore Q', then x, y, z are the premises, and Q is the conclusion.

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consideration usually just refers to a premise, but you can have 'considerations' both in favor of your conclusion and against your conclusion.
in most official passages i've seen, the word 'consideration' is used for a fact advanced in a passage (either as support or as a counterpoint) - i.e., they don't often seem to use 'consideration' to refer to claims, although there's no logical reason why they couldn't.

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assumptions are things that must be true for the argument to work, but are not actually articulated in the argument.
for instance, if the argument is 'you are smart; therefore i like you', we need an assumption that i like smart people.

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assertion refers to anything at all in the passage; it basically just means 'statement'. premises and conclusions can both be assertions.

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that's a basic primer; these questions are awfully general, but i hope that helps.

Thanks for the explanation. It cleared things up alot.