Critical Reasoning

Many winemakers use cork stoppers; but cork stoppers can leak, crumble, or become moldy , so that those winemakers must often discard a significant proportion of their inventory of bottled wine. Bottlemaster plastic stoppers, which cannot leak, crumble, or mold, have long been available to winemakers, at a price slightly higher than that of traditional cork stoppers. Cork prices, however, are expected to rise dramatically in
the near future. Clearly, therefore, winemakers who still use cork but wish to keep production costs from rising will be forced to reconsider plastic stoppers. And since the wine-buying public's association of plastic stoppers with poor-quality wine is weakening, there is an excellent chance that the Bottlemaster plastic stopper will gain an increased share of the marked for wine-bottle stoppers.

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

A. The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.
B. The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes; the second is a conclusion drawn in order to support the main conclusion of the argument.
C. The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second provides evidence in support of that main conclusion.
D. The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a restatement of that main conclusion.
E. The first is a conclusion drawn in order to support the main conclusion of the argument; the second is that main conclusion.


OA: E

can someone explain this one?

I chose A, why isn't it right?
thank u!

lunarpower wrote:

amysky_0205 wrote:I chose A, why isn't it right?
thank u!

choice (a) says...
The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes
in other words, according to choice (a), the first boldface goes AGAINST the argument.

that's not true: according to the first statement, winemakers will have to think about replacing their cork stoppers with plastic ones.
that idea provides direct support for the following part (= the claim that one particular plastic stopper will gain market share).
so, you need to pick the choice that says the first boldface is actually on the author's side. that's what choice (e) says.

Thank you Ron,
1.
for bf question, I normally am stucked between 2 answer choices both of which correctly describe the relations of each bf to the main conclusion but both of which decribe differently what are bf. for example one choice describe bf1 as evidence , other choice describe bf2 as judgement. the problem is that I see both these descritions correct and can not find the oa.

do you have experience on this problem? pls help

lunarpower wrote:

amysky_0205 wrote:I chose A, why isn't it right?
thank u!

choice (a) says...
The first is a judgment that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes
in other words, according to choice (a), the first boldface goes AGAINST the argument.

that's not true: according to the first statement, winemakers will have to think about replacing their cork stoppers with plastic ones.
that idea provides direct support for the following part (= the claim that one particular plastic stopper will gain market share).
so, you need to pick the choice that says the first boldface is actually on the author's side. that's what choice (e) says.

Hi Ron ,

I was struck between D and E and went with D eventually . I thought the first bold part was the main conclusion . Although in option D , the second BF description doesnt sound completely right , but kind of sounds ok , compared to option E (Unless the second BF is the main conclusion , in which case I am wrong) . I saw multiple answers for the same question in various forums ( some of which say Ans is D and others E).
Appreciate if you can confirm on this.

Thanks !
J