OG-12 CR Q-64

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OG-12 CR Q-64

by ankit0411 » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:53 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 recentrise in its inventory of � nished 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 justi� ed. It is true that an increased
inventory of � nished 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 � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides evidence to
undermine the support for the position being opposed.
(B) The � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second is evidence that has been
used to support the position being opposed.
(C) The � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second states the conclusion of
the argument as a whole.
(D) The � rst is evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the
second provides information to undermine the force of that evidence.
(E) The � rst is evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the
second states the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

Guys can you please help me how to tackle this boldfaced question ?

Thanks,
Ankit

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by unknown13 » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:38 pm
Hi
in my opinion the right answer is A

Regards

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by avik.ch » Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:03 am
I would urge you to write the question in a proper way.
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 recentrise in its inventory of � nished 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 justi�ed . It is true that an increased inventory of �nished 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 � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides evidence to undermine the support for the position being opposed.
(B) The � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second is evidence that has been used to support the position being opposed.
(C) The � rst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second states the conclusion of the argument as a whole.
(D) The � rst is evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides information to undermine the force of that evidence.
(E) The � rst is evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second states the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

Lets see the core of the argument : Then obviously we can play matching game --

A prominent investor who holds a large stake in the Burton Tool Company has recently claimed that the company is mismanaged -- Viewpoint/conclusion of the Investor
citing as evidence the company's failure to slow production in response to a recentrise in its inventory of �nished products. -- premise supporting the conclusion of the investor.
It is doubtful whether an investor's sniping at management can ever be anything other than counterproductive, : this can be considered a counter premise to some extent. ( but this is adding no value to the core of the argument)
but in this case it is clearly not justified. -- author's conclusion, negating the investor's conclusion
It is true that an increased inventory of �nished 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. -- reasoning the author gives in support of his conclusion

The position of the argument is the position that the author takes : so here the author is negating the investor's conclusion - the first bold part. A, B and C exactly states this.

The second bold statement is the author's conclusion : the main conclusion of the argument. So C satisfies both.

hence it is C


Hope this helps !!

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by Sharma_Gaurav » Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:17 am
total time take = 1 min 31 seconds. answer should be C
Here is the approach.
ankit you need to take the purpose of each sentence in argument and how they are related to the bold faced sentences.
The first bold face is the position that the invester takes or investor claim. Now general approach is after this, the argument as a whole tries to oppose that situation, and there comes the final conclusion in the second boldface. After this 2nd BF, rest of argument is trying to explain why it does so.
Hence choose a option where second BF is argument conclusion, and 1st BF is the investors position which the argument is trying to oppose. Be careful that 1st BF is not an evidence as some of the other options state

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by ankit0411 » Sat Apr 21, 2012 7:10 am
Thanks a lot guys. That helped me understand in a very good way :)