Lawyer Reasoning (source:veritas)

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mparakala: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 87; Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 7:57 am; Thanked: 1 times

by mparakala » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:30 am

Lawyer: Many people blame lawyers alone for the decline in people's ability to resolve conflicts outside of the court system. Yet, clearly, plaintiffs' greed has also played an important role in this decline. In the past ten years, lawsuits involving damages of more than one million dollars have risen sharply, and analysis of those lawsuits show that a number of them involve plaintiffs who decided to sue against the advice of their lawyers.

In the lawyer's argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

A) It is the main conclusion of the argument.
B) It is a finding that the argument seeks to explain.
C) It is an explanation that the argument concludes is correct.
D) It provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument.
E) It introduces a judgment that the argument opposes.

Please help me out with this question. [spoiler]After a careful deliberation, I chose C over E as I thought that the boldface statement is not really "opposing" anything. It is merely giving an explanation. My reasoning: plaintiff's greed has ALSO played an important role- so, the lawyer is not entirely denying the claim. However, Veritas says E is the right answer.[/spoiler]

Please explain. Thanks!

Last edited by mparakala on Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:30 am

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brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pmFollowed by: 93 members; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 6:12 pm

mparakala wrote:Lawyer: Many people blame lawyers alone for the decline in people's ability to resolve conflicts outside of the court system. Yet, clearly, plaintiffs' greed has also played an important role in this decline. In the past ten years, lawsuits involving damages of more than one million dollars have risen sharply, and analysis of those lawsuits show that a number of them involve plaintiffs who decided to sue against the advice of their lawyers.

In the lawyer's argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

A) It is the main conclusion of the argument.
B) It is a finding that the argument seeks to explain.
C) It is an explanation that the argument concludes is correct.
D) It provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument.
E) It introduces a judgment that the argument opposes.

Please help me out with this question. [spoiler]After a careful deliberation, I chose C over E as I thought that the boldface statement is not really "opposing" anything. It is merely giving an explanation. My reasoning: plaintiff's greed has ALSO played an important role- so, the lawyer is not entirely denying the claim. However, Veritas says E is the right answer.[/spoiler]

Please explain. Thanks!

What part of the original sentence was bolded?
Thanks.
-Brian

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:23 am

mparakala wrote:Lawyer: Many people blame lawyers alone for the decline in people's ability to resolve conflicts outside of the court system. Yet, clearly, plaintiffs' greed has also played an important role in this decline. In the past ten years, lawsuits involving damages of more than one million dollars have risen sharply, and analysis of those lawsuits show that a number of them involve plaintiffs who decided to sue against the advice of their lawyers.

In the lawyer's argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

A) It is the main conclusion of the argument.
B) It is a finding that the argument seeks to explain.
C) It is an explanation that the argument concludes is correct.
D) It provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument.
E) It introduces a judgment that the argument opposes.

I received a PM asking me to comment.
This CR seems to be modeled after an official CR in which the boldface portion is the first sentence.

Boldface portion: MANY PEOPLE BLAME LAWYERS ALONE for the decline in people's ability to resolve conflicts.
Conclusion of the lawyer/passage: PLAINTIFFS' GREED HAS ALSO PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE for this decline.
The passage concludes that the boldface portion -- what many people believe -- is WRONG: lawyers alone are NOT to blame.

Only answer choice E describes the function of the boldface portion:
It introduces a JUDGMENT (that lawyers alone are to blame) that the passage OPPOSES (because plaintiffs' greed has also played an important role).

The correct answer is E.

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mparakala: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 87; Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 7:57 am; Thanked: 1 times

by mparakala » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:48 am

@brianlange77 , sorry, i forgot to highlight the first sentence which is the boldface statement.

@Mitch, thanks a lot for resolving the confusion

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