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you can do most boldface questions with the following 3-point procedure:

1) FIND THE CONCLUSION OF THE PASSAGE IN SIMPLE TERMS

in this case, the conclusion is "yes, delta's operations now use less fossil fuel."

2) JUDGE WHETHER THE BOLDFACE PARTS CHALLENGE, SUPPORT, OR ACTUALLY ARE THE CONCLUSION

no need to be more subtle than this, at least at first.
in this case, both boldface parts are PRO-conclusion. neither one of them actually IS the conclusion.

3) SELECT THE APPROPRIATE ANSWER CHOICE

(a) is wrong because it says boldface #1 is the conclusion.
(b) is wrong because it says boldface #2 is the conclusion.
in (c) both parts are wrong; #1 isn't anti-conclusion, and #2 isn't the conclusion.
in (d) both parts are wrong; neither #1 nor #2 is anti-conclusion.
(e) correctly points out that both #1 and #2 are pro-conclusion, but that neither is the actual conclusion.

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i would interpret "the content of the conclusion" as essentially the same as "the conclusion" itself, yes.

i do think that this is somewhat sloppy writing, but, as i said in the post directly above yours, that's pretty much what it means.

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Ron is a Director of Curriculum Development at Manhattan GMAT. He has been teaching various standardized tests for almost 20 years.

He wears white after Labor Day, gets 55% of his calories from protein, and takes standardized tests for fun.

Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron o en inglés o en español.

If you send Ron a private message, please allow 1-2 weeks for a response.

Learn more about ron

I think the answer should be choice E. We can check whether each bold statement is evidence by asking what would happen to the conclusion without either of them.

The conclusion, as Ron pointed out above, is that Delta's operations are now using less fossil fuel.

What happens to the conclusion if we remove entirely the first bold statement? That is, what if they had stayed with the old fossil-fuel technology? Clearly, the conclusion is hurt. Hence, their switching to the new technology is clearly support or evidence for the conclusion.

It is much easier to tell that the second bold statement is evidence because of the keyword "since". But, again, you can check by removing it. If you remove, then clearly the conclusion is hurt.

FocusedMind, did the OG rearrange the correspondence of letters and answer choice statements? (I don't have my OG 12 with me right now).

And what bout the OE? Is it clearly referring to B?

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Kaplan Teacher in Toronto

If you think the second bold statement is the conclusion, then what do you think is the evidence that supports it?

Note that E was reported as the OA by the original poster. Typos (even in the OG) have been known to happen. Also, mjjjking's explanation above is very nice.

The correct answer is clearly E. I would be willing to bet a lot of money on it.

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Kaplan Teacher in Toronto

Hi Raghava,

not quite. All people living in Toronto are living in Canada. That is to say, because they live in Toronto, they necessarily live in Canada.

Does that mean that all people who live in Canada live in Toronto?

What you are actually talking about in the above is conditional statements (if-then statements).

if x then y does NOT establish that if y then x.
if x then y does establish that if no y, then no x.

At any rate, this does not get tested on the GMAT.

I assume you are asking in attempt to assert that the last sentence's being the conclusion can theoretically be supported by the ideas that preceded it?

The word "since" will ALWAYS signal evidence and not conclusion. (Just as it does in everyday speech.)

And the "content of the conclusion" must be interpreted as "the conclusion." If it were to be interepreted as something else, the question would lose its objectivity, and would be ambiguous. GMAT goes through great pains to remove ambiguity and to ensure that there is only one logically supportable and correct interpretation of every phrase used. (That, in fact, is the main reason the test costs so much to take).

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Kaplan Teacher in Toronto