Political Analyst: After the Soviet Union collapsed, some hoped that freedom would encourage Russians to multiply, but as a result of dislocation and insecurity, the Russian population continues to dwindle at the rate of 700,000 a year. The government proposes to address the problem with a wide range of financial incentives, along with investments in improved health care, road safety and the like. These are positive measures, but they have been tried before, to little avail. A better plan to reverse the population decline is to improve the country's governance in both the public and the private sphere. If a greater part of the population participated in important decisions and shared in the country's wealth, then larger families would result. In addition, if corruption and greed among the elite were curbed, public health would improve and average life expectancy would increase.

The two boldfaced statements serve what function in the argument above?


A) The first is the main point of the analyst's argument; the second is a premise that supports the the first.

B) The first is a premise that undermines an alternative to the analyst's proposal; the second is a premise that supports the analyst's main claim.

C) The first is a premise that contradicts the main point made by the analyst; the second is the main point of the argument.

D) The first is a premise that supports a proposal; the second is that proposal.

E) The first is a conclusion that the argument endorses; the second is a premise that opposes that conclusion.

OA after some discussion. Please explain your answer.

IMO B by POE.
The second BL is a premise supporting the conclusion or the main solution/claim,which is "A better plan to reverse the population decline is to improve the country's governance in both the public and the private sphere". Thus to save time, we need not to even check about the first BL.
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Hi, I am still confused can you please explain why its not E...
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Electro Pattern

Trying to stay focuse on

E) The first is a conclusion that the argument endorses; the second is a premise that opposes that conclusion.

The first is NOT a conclusion because the passage says : These are positive measures, (doing financial incentives, investments and so on) BUT but they have been tried before, to little avail
so this is not a conclusion but something that going in a counter direction, in contrast with something said before. The plan before has tried to do something but has failed

The conclusion: A better plan to reverse the population decline is to improve the country's governance in both the public and the private sphere. The following sentence starts with: If a greater part of the population participated in important decisions and shared in the country's wealth, then larger families would result.

This statement is NOT against conclusion, but support the main claim of the argument that says to improve country's governance.

You have to stay on the look out of key words.

Hope is useful my explanation.
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Tough one and I cannot determine the conclusion of the argument. However, after reading Swoosh617's reasoning, I found how to approach to choice B that is correct.
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surely cmcaboy . .thats the conclusion . second premise for this conclusion
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