99999 wrote:
As an experienced labor organizer and the former head of one of the nation’s
most powerful labor unions, Grayson is an excellent choice to chair the new
council on business-labor relations.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?
(A) The new council must have the support of the nation’s labor leaders if it is to
succeed.
(B) During his years as a labor leader, Grayson established a record of good
relations with business leaders.
(C) The chair of the new council must be a person who can communicate directly
with the leaders of the nation’s largest labor unions.
(D) Most of the other members of the new council will be representatives of
business management interests.
(E) An understanding of the needs and problems of labor is the only qualification
necessary for the job of chairing the new council.
can anyone explain what's the difference between b,c and e.
answer is e.
Just FYI, questions of this nature should probably be posted over in the "GMAT Verbal Section" forum – plenty of the "experts" answer questions over there, too!
But, I'll go ahead and answer this question here. Very tricky problem!
Remember that the real key to every "Strengthen/Weaken" problem is the
Assumption (that is, the unwritten portion of the argument that is necessary to make the argument logical). Even though the problem is not directly asking for the assumption, the only way to strengthen an argument is to affirm the assumption, and the only way to weaken an argument is to attack an assumption.
In general, an assumption fills a gap between the premises and the conclusion. For the argument at hand, we have
Conclusion: "Grayson is an excellent choice to chair the new
council on business-labor relations."
Premise: Grayson is "an experienced labor organizer and the former head of one of the nation’s
most powerful labor unions."
Notice the difference in language here – the conclusion speaks of "business-labor relations," whereas the premise only mentions Grayson's experience with labor organization and labor unions. There's a disconnect here – what about the business side of things??
Note that there is nothing special about "Mr. Grayson" here. The author of this argument would say that anyone with sufficient labor experience is qualified to head up this business-labor relations council. Therefore, the real assumption made is essentially "Labor experience is the only necessary qualification for chairing the business-labor relations council."
Answer choices (B) and (C) attempt to bridge the gap by claiming that Grayson also has business credentials. Of course, future B-schoolers think this is a good thing! But remember not to bring in real-world notions to GMAT CR!!
Only choice (E) addresses the underlying assumption, that an understanding of labor is the only needed qualification.
Hope that helps!
Mark
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Mark Sullivan | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | Seattle, WA
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