Bold Face CR

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Bold Face CR

by sukhman » Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:22 am
During the past year, Pro-Tect Insurance Company's total payouts on car-theft claims were larger than the company can afford to sustain. Pro-Tect cannot reduce the number of car-theft policies it carries, so cannot protect itself against continued large payouts that way. Therefore, Pro-Tect has decided to offer a discount to holders of car-theft policies whose cars have antitheft devices. Many policyholders will respond to the discount by installing antitheft devices, since the amount of the discount will within two years typically more than cover the cost of installation. Thus, because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A. The first rules out a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second presents the strategy that was adopted instead and whose effectiveness the argument assesses.
B. The first is a judgment made in support of a certain conclusion; the second is that conclusion.
C. The first has been used as a consideration to support adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second reports a decision to adopt an alternative strategy.
D. The first provides evidence in favor of adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the
second reports a decision to pursue an alternative goal.
E. The first is a consideration offered against adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second is the main conclusion that the argument is seeking to establish.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by MartyMurray » Wed Feb 24, 2016 9:49 pm
Generally, in handling boldface questions, clearly understanding the argument and identifying the main conclusion are key moves.

In this one, the main conclusion is "because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts."

A. The first rules out a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second presents the strategy that was adopted instead and whose effectiveness the argument assesses.

This matches. The first says that Pro-Tect cannot use the strategy of reducing the number of policies, and what the second says presents the strategy adopted instead.

B. The first is a judgment made in support of a certain conclusion; the second is that conclusion.

The first could be seen as a judgement made in support of a conclusion. In fact the first supports the conclusion that is stated in the clause following the first. However, the second is not a conclusion supported by the first.

C. The first has been used as a consideration to support adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second reports a decision to adopt an alternative strategy.

This one is tempting, but really if anything the first is a consideration that supports adopting the strategy described in the second, which situation is not what this answer choice describes, which is that the first supports adopting a strategy other than that described in the second.

D. The first provides evidence in favor of adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the
second reports a decision to pursue an alternative goal.

The first is not evidence in favor of adopting a strategy different from that described in the second.

E. The first is a consideration offered against adopting a certain strategy for achieving a goal; the second is the main conclusion that the argument is seeking to establish.

Saying that the simple statement that one cannot adopt a strategy is a consideration against adopting that strategy does not really make sense. So this choice does not match the first boldfaced portion. Then it does not match the second either, because the second is not the main conclusion that the argument is seeking to establish.

So the correct answer is A.
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