Exercise Question 1

The stock market has shorted HP stock in response to HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s decision to divest the tablet business to invest to achieve good positions in great industries. Such myopic behavior indicates that the stock market is focused at short term results even when they come at the expense of long term benefits. While HP could have made some money in the tablet market in the short term, it has no strategic advantage in the tablet space and refocusing and investing the management focus on industries where HP does have a strategic advantage will provide enduring profits in the long term.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
A. The first is a position that the argument as a whole seeks to defend whereas the second is a position that is contested in the argument.
B. The first states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support the main conclusion.
C. The first 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 first and second both state intermediate conclusions that are drawn in order to support jointly the conclusions of the argument as a whole

Also review this bold face article to learn the core skills for bold face.
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A. The first is a position that the argument as a whole seeks to defend whereas the second is a position that is contested in the argument.
-- Second position is not contested in the argument, its the intermediate conclusion that supports the main conclusion of the argument.
B. The first states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second states an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in order to support the main conclusion.
-- Correct. First bold face is the main conclusion of the argument and second bold face acts as intermediate conclusion that supports the main conclusion of the argument.
C. The first is the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides evidence against the position being opposed.
-- Argument doesnt oppose the first bold face, rather its the main conclusion of the argument.
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
-- The roles are reversed. First is main conclusion and second is the intermediate conclusion.
E. The first and second both state intermediate conclusions that are drawn in order to support jointly the conclusions of the argument as a whole
-- First is main conclusion and second is the intermediate conclusion.

Choice(B) for me.
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Thanks,
PraPon

VOTE: vote-best-gmat-practice-tests-excluding-gmatprep-144859.html
Tough RCs: Passage1 | Passage2 | Passage3 | Passage4 | Passage5 | Passage6 | Passage7

The stock market has shorted HP stock in response to HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s decision to divest the tablet business to invest to achieve good positions in great industries. Such myopic behavior indicates that the stock market is focused at short term results even when they come at the expense of long term benefits. While HP could have made some money in the tablet market in the short term, it has no strategic advantage in the tablet space and refocusing and investing the management focus on industries where HP does have a strategic advantage will provide enduring profits in the long term.

Green is the color - go green

Green is the conclusion.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
A. The first is a position that the argument as a whole seeks to defend whereas the second is a position that is contested in the argument.
Yes First is a belief/position/hypothesis/thesis .However, second is not a position ,it is a Fact/Data point/Evidence which is undisputed

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

C. The first is the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides evidence against the position being opposed.
Argument doesn't oppose FIRST
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
Second is a DATA point/premise/evidence
E. The first and second both state intermediate conclusions that are drawn in order to support jointly the conclusions of the argument as a whole
Through POE , best is this one only


However,Plz Advice !!!
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Plz Correct me if I am deviating somewhere!!
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Hi,

First Bold Face Statement (BF1) is the main conclusion of the argument. How can we say that?

Let's first ask, what does the main conclusion mean?

According to me, it means that the whole argument is going to revolve around this and in majority of the cases, support it. (In some cases, authors do present counter-reasoning to the main conclusion. This counter reasoning is then attacked in the argument so that the conclusion gets supported).

In this case, you can see that first statement provides a background to the second statement i.e. BF1. BF1 uses this fact to say that it indicates myopic behavior since stock market is concerned about short-term profits. The third statement, of which BF2 is a part, then provides reasoning that the behavior of the stock market was actually short term, by saying that HP does not have any long term benefits in tablet business. Therefore, the passage as a whole revolves around and supports BF1.

Did I make sense? Let me know if you have any queries.

Thanks,
Chiranjeev
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