Before the 20th century, the employer/employee relationship was characterized by private contract between employers, who controlled resources, and employees, who contributed labor. The employers held the majority of the power in this relationship. As businesses grew larger, employees banded together in the form of unions in an attempt to create a greater balance of power between the two sides of the private contract. By allowing unions to survive and grow, employers are partially responsible for the current environment in which unions threaten industry by demanding prohibitively high prices for their labor.

The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

(A) The first provides background information that is necessary for the conclusion; the second states the conclusion that is subsequently drawn.

(B) The first establishes evidence for the conclusion that is drawn in the second boldface portion.

(C) The first provides an inference that can be drawn from the passage; the second states the conclusion that is subsequently drawn.

(D) The first provides evidence that defends the position the author eventually takes; the second states the main conclusion of the passage.

(E) Each portion provides evidence for the conclusion that is presented

Please explain how first bold face part is inference.
It is kind of fact or background information.

I chose B but after thought carefully again, I realize that if the first bold is excluded from the passage, we still can infer it from the sentence: "As businesses grew larger, employees banded together in the form of unions in an attempt to create a greater balance of power between the two sides of the private contract.".

In addition, option A states that "The first provides background information that is necessary for the conclusion". Is that necessary? If it is excluded from the passage, the conclusion is still properly drawn.

Likewise, Option B: "The first establishes evidence for the conclusion that is drawn in the second boldface portion". The first just provides background, all necessary evidence is implied in the following sentence.



I dont think that the author takes any position here, this is simply a narration

Hope it helps.

Why not A ?, how it is an inference?

Can someone pls explain how option C is an inference

@sridhar786 plz explain why option 'A' is not correct?

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