BOLD

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:08 pm
Thanked: 8 times

BOLD

by jimmyjimmy » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:20 am
A prominent investor who holds a large stake in the Burton Tool company has recently claimed that the company is mismanaged, citing as evidence the company's failure to slow production in response to a recent rise in its inventory of finished products. It is doubtful whether an investor's sniping at management can ever be anything other than counterproductive, but in this case it is clearly not justified. It is true that an increased inventory of finished products often indicates that production is outstripping demand, but in Burton's case it indicates no such thing. Rather, the increase in inventory is entirely attributable to products that have already been assigned to orders received from customers.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

A. The first provides evidence to support the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states the conclusion.

B.The 1st states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support that conclusion

C.The 1st is the position that the argument as a whole opposes;the second provides evidence against the position being opposed.

D.The first states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the 2nd states the conclusion of the argument as a whole

E. The 1st & the 2nd both state intermediate conclusions that are drawn in order to support jointly the conclusions of the argument as a whole.


OA-B
Last edited by jimmyjimmy on Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3225
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pm
Location: Toronto
Thanked: 1710 times
Followed by:614 members
GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:48 am
Hi!

Bolded statement questions can be tricky, mostly because the answers often sound extremely similar. To avoid getting confused, rely on the most powerful tool for both RC and CR: making a prediction.

The best way to make a prediction on bolded statement questions is to roadmap the stimulus, finding the purpose of each sentence. Here's a roadmap for this passage:

Sentence 1: claim and evidence of investor
Part 1 of Sentence 2: author making general statement
Bolded statement 1: author disagreeing with investor
Part 1 of Sentence 3: author making general statement
Bolded statement 2: author giving opinion about application of prior clause to Burton's case
Sentence 4: author's evidence for disagreement

Now we look at the relationship between the two bolded statements:

The first one is the author's main point - that this investor was wrong.
The second one is a supporting opinion, based on other evidence.

Finally, our prediction: The first statement is the main conclusion, the second is a supporting opinion.

Scan the choices: B matches - choose B!

(In fact, even if all you had done is identified the first bolded statement as the main conclusion, you'd confidently choose B as the only match.)
jimmyjimmy wrote:A prominent investor who holds a large stake in the Burton Tool company has recently claimed that the company is mismanaged, citing as evidence the company's failure to slow production in response to a recent rise in its inventory of finished products. It is doubtful whether an investor's sniping at management can ever be anything other than counterproductive, but in this case it is clearly not justified. It is true that an increased inventory of finished products often indicates that production is outstripping demand, but in Burton's case it indicates no such thing. Rather, the increase in inventory is entirely attributable to products that have already been assigned to orders received from customers.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

A. The first provides evidence to support the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states the conclusion.

B.The 1st states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support that conclusion

C.The 1st is the position that the argument as a whole opposes;the second provides evidence against the position being opposed.

D.The first states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the 2nd states the conclusion of the argument as a whole

E. The 1st & the 2nd both state intermediate conclusions that are drawn in order to support jointly the conclusions of the argument as a whole.


OA-B
Image

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

Kaplan Exclusive: The Official Test Day Experience | Ready to Take a Free Practice Test? | Kaplan/Beat the GMAT Member Discount
BTG100 for $100 off a full course