Advertisement: Our diamonds are the purest and finest cut diamonds

Advertisement: Our diamonds are the purest and finest cut diamonds available on the market. Our patent-pending process to extract impurities and maximize brilliance are unique in the diamond market and we are the only diamond retailer that can ensure that the diamonds you buy are 100% authentic, pure, and beautifully cut. Other diamond retailers simply can’t guarantee that their diamonds are as pure as ours.

Which of the following, if true, most undercuts the advertisement’s message?

A. Diamonds are an incredibly hard material and virtually impossible to cut. Incorrect

contradicts with argument

B. Diamonds vary greatly in cut, color, and clarity, though purity is an objective value. Incorrect

it partially supports argument

C. The patent-pending process is an uncommon practice in the diamond industry. Incorrect

patent-pending process is not main fact

D. The patent-pending process is an extremely common and standard practice in the diamond industry. Incorrect

same as C

E. It is impossible to extract impurities from diamonds. Correct

if this true, advertisement is logically flawed , because it says it can extract impurities from diamonds

I feel its quite simple... because emphasis is on purity and if we can break that only, then we can always weaken the conclusion. so E is directly attacking that..

Official Explanation:

Advertisement: Our diamonds are the purest and finest cut diamonds available on the market. Our patent-pending process to extract impurities and maximize brilliance are unique in the diamond market and we are the only diamond retailer that can ensure that the diamonds you buy are 100% authentic, pure, and beautifully cut. Other diamond retailers simply can’t guarantee that their diamonds are as pure as ours.

Which of the following, if true, most undercuts the advertisement’s message?

A. Diamonds are an incredibly hard material and virtually impossible to cut.
B. Diamonds vary greatly in cut, color, and clarity, though purity is an objective value.
C. The patent-pending process is an uncommon practice in the diamond industry.
D. The patent-pending process is an extremely common and standard practice in the diamond industry.
E. It is impossible to extract impurities from diamonds.

Question Type: Weaken
Boil It Down: This advertisement claims their diamonds are the purest, finest-cut, authentic diamonds on the market - and that no other retailer can match this level of quality. The claim is based on their patent-pending process that cleans impurities out of the diamonds.
Goal: Find the option that would best weaken the advertisement’s claims if it were true.

Analysis:

This is an excellent example of a “weaken” question. To start, we need to break down any claims this advertisement makes throughout the passage:

Advertisement: Our diamonds are the purest and finest cut diamonds available on the market. Our patent-pending process to extract impurities and maximize brilliance are unique in the diamond market and we are the only diamond retailer that can ensure that the diamonds you buy are 100% authentic, pure, and beautifully cut. Other diamond retailers simply can’t guarantee that their diamonds are as pure as ours.

The highlighted sections are our main claims, and now we can go through the options and find the one that, if true, would weaken at least one of these claims. We also need to be careful not to choose any options that are outside the scope of the piece, and we need to eliminate any that would actually strengthen the advertisement’s claims.

A. Diamonds are an incredibly hard material and virtually impossible to cut.
A is incorrect because, while true, diamonds are easily cut with diamond-tipped drills and saws and the difficulty associated is not relevant to the passage’s argument.

B. Diamonds vary greatly in cut, color, and clarity, though purity is an objective value.
B is incorrect because, while true in the front half, purity is not necessarily an objective value and, even if true, this does not necessarily undercut the passage’s argument.

C. The patent-pending process is an uncommon practice in the diamond industry.
C is incorrect because, if it were an uncommon practice in the diamond industry, this information would probably strengthen the passage’s claims.

D. The patent-pending process is an extremely common and standard practice in the diamond industry.
D is correct because, isf true, this implies that the practices they are putting forth in their advertisement as cutting-edge and top-of-the-line are in fact fairly standard in the diamond industry. If the practice is standard, the argument that this diamond retailer’s offerings are the purest in the market is likely easy to invalidate.

E. It is impossible to extract impurities from diamonds.
E is incorrect because, even if true, this really has only tangential bearing on the passage’s argument.


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hi Anush56
I feel that your reasoning is valid (for option-E) but in actual world. In GMAT you have to stick with the details mentioned in premise.
For D, you said that strengthen....but actually it is weakning the argument. Argument says that Our patent-pending process to extract impurities and maximize brilliance are unique in the diamond market and in Option D, it is mentioned common and standard practice.

I hope this may help you.

I am still not convinced that E is wrong.

Not at all convinced with the OA.

I think this is a perfect example of an ambiguous question. Really really not worth it.

For B, your explanation is thoroughly screwed up. 1) the answer choices are assumed to be true. 2) if purity is an objective value then it undercuts the question stem... who are you to say what is pure when it is an objective value!

APPRECIATE YOUR ATTEMPT AT CREATING QUESTIONS, BUT THIS JUST SCREWS UP OTHERS' LEARNING AND WASTES TIME.

what??? D is a weakner i agree , but how is E not a weakner?? it directly attacks that is the dimonds cannot be purified then whole argument falls apart

someone please explain why is (E) wrong?

if it is impossible to extract impurities, won't it make the conclusion fall apart (that of diamonds being 100% pure)?

KarishmaB
MartyMurray
egmat

Can I get some clarification on why everyone seems divided on D and E? I too think, that E could potentially be an answer.

E directly attacks the premise, but the premise is always true in CR questions, and an answer saying the premise is false is logically incorrect. The only thing we know is that there is a process that can remove impurities. Regardless, the advertiser states that they can still compare based on purity on other qualities, so saying that you can't take out impurities only tackles the first part.