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655-705 (Hard)|   Weaken|      
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 28 Aug 2018, 12:42
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VeritasKarishma
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hey..

The arguement compares rentals - that were less in 1994 than 1993.. with sale of videos by videorama..

so why not bridge the gap why saying videorama rented more than it sold ? - a?
similarly why not b ?

Responding to a pm:

The following is the gist of the argument:

Jennifer: Video rental outlets handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline was due to opening of Videorama in 1994 that sold videos cheaply.

Brad: Wrong. The decline was 10,000 rentals but Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Question: Which would most seriously weaken Brad's objection?

We have to weaken Brad's objection that Videorama sold only 4000 videos whereas the decline is 10,000 videos.
What can explain that 4000 videos sold by Videorama are responsible for the decline of 10,000 in rentals? 4000 videos sold should be responsible for decline of about 4000 rentals only. But if people lend their videos to family and friends, each video sold could account for 2-3 fewer rentals. Then it is possible that 10,000 fewer people rent the videos. Therefore, (E) weakens Brad's objection and is our answer.

(A) and (B) do not provide an explanation against Brad's objection and hence are not correct.
Show more


VeritasKarishma , MartyMurray

Although I marked E as the answer, I am still not clear why A can be eliminated. Lets see it this way:

Brad objects by saying that Videorama sold only 4000 videos whereas the decline is 10,000 videos. So he believes that there must be some other reason. This is what we have to weaken.

Now, option A says, Videorama rented more videos than it sold. It can mean that videorama was able to divert the balance 6000 people from the existing video outlets. When I view the problem in this way, A appears to be the correct choice.

Please help me understand where am I going wrong.

Thanks
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 28 Aug 2018, 15:51
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Prateek176
Although I marked E as the answer, I am still not clear why A can be eliminated. Lets see it this way:

Brad objects by saying that Videorama sold only 4000 videos whereas the decline is 10,000 videos. So he believes that there must be some other reason. This is what we have to weaken.

Now, option A says, Videorama rented more videos than it sold. It can mean that videorama was able to divert the balance 6000 people from the existing video outlets. When I view the problem in this way, A appears to be the correct choice.

Please help me understand where am I going wrong.

Thanks
Show more

Here's the deal.

I could show you why (A) doesn't work, but really my showing you that is not what you need right now. You could COMPLETELY understand thousands of questions, but, since GMAT Critical Reasoning is not about what you KNOW as much as it is about what you DO and what you SEE, understanding many already existing questions will not be sufficient for getting you to your score goal. So, I think you are better off doing what you have to do until you see why (A) does not work.

At this point in your training, what you need more than explanations is to develop your SKILLS.

You have completely missed some key aspects of what is said in the passage and what is said in (A). Once you see what you have to see, you will completely agree that (A) does not work AT ALL.

So, go back, read the passage again, read the question again, and read choice (A) again, and figure out why choice (A) is completely useless. Take your time, read every word, and do what you have to do until you see what you have to see. That process is how you train to crush Critical Reasoning.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 29 Aug 2018, 05:49
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Prateek176
VeritasKarishma
Priyanka2011
hey..

The arguement compares rentals - that were less in 1994 than 1993.. with sale of videos by videorama..

so why not bridge the gap why saying videorama rented more than it sold ? - a?
similarly why not b ?

Responding to a pm:

The following is the gist of the argument:

Jennifer: Video rental outlets handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline was due to opening of Videorama in 1994 that sold videos cheaply.

Brad: Wrong. The decline was 10,000 rentals but Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Question: Which would most seriously weaken Brad's objection?

We have to weaken Brad's objection that Videorama sold only 4000 videos whereas the decline is 10,000 videos.
What can explain that 4000 videos sold by Videorama are responsible for the decline of 10,000 in rentals? 4000 videos sold should be responsible for decline of about 4000 rentals only. But if people lend their videos to family and friends, each video sold could account for 2-3 fewer rentals. Then it is possible that 10,000 fewer people rent the videos. Therefore, (E) weakens Brad's objection and is our answer.

(A) and (B) do not provide an explanation against Brad's objection and hence are not correct.


VeritasKarishma , MartyMurray

Although I marked E as the answer, I am still not clear why A can be eliminated. Lets see it this way:

Brad objects by saying that Videorama sold only 4000 videos whereas the decline is 10,000 videos. So he believes that there must be some other reason. This is what we have to weaken.

Now, option A says, Videorama rented more videos than it sold. It can mean that videorama was able to divert the balance 6000 people from the existing video outlets. When I view the problem in this way, A appears to be the correct choice.

Please help me understand where am I going wrong.

Thanks
Show more

You missed out on the first line of the argument:
"Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993."
The number includes the videos rented out by Videorama too. All outlets together rented fewer videos this year. So even if VIdeorama rented out 6000 videos, it is included in the total which is 10,000 lower than 1993 total.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 29 May 2021, 01:26
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline in rentals was probably due almost entirely to the February 1994 opening of Videorama, the first and only video rental outlet in the area that, in addition to renting videos, also sold them cheaply.

Brad: There must be another explanation: as you yourself said, the decline was on the order of 10,000 rentals. Yet Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the force of the objection that Brad presents to Jennifer's explanation?

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold.
(B) In 1994 two new outlets that rent but that do not sell videos opened in Centerville.
(C) Most of the video rental outlets in Centerville rent videos at a discount on certain nights of the week.
(D) People often buy videos of movies that they have previously seen in a theater.
(E) People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends.
Show more


Logic for eliminating A?

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma Sajjad1994

I can assume Videorama Rented out some 7k videos and hence affected centerville Business, I chose E But how do i eliminate such trap answer which actually sounds perfectly logical if option E did not Exist
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 01 Jun 2021, 00:42
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline in rentals was probably due almost entirely to the February 1994 opening of Videorama, the first and only video rental outlet in the area that, in addition to renting videos, also sold them cheaply.

Brad: There must be another explanation: as you yourself said, the decline was on the order of 10,000 rentals. Yet Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the force of the objection that Brad presents to Jennifer's explanation?

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold.
(B) In 1994 two new outlets that rent but that do not sell videos opened in Centerville.
(C) Most of the video rental outlets in Centerville rent videos at a discount on certain nights of the week.
(D) People often buy videos of movies that they have previously seen in a theater.
(E) People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends.


Logic for eliminating A?

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma Sajjad1994

I can assume Videorama Rented out some 7k videos and hence affected centerville Business, I chose E But how do i eliminate such trap answer which actually sounds perfectly logical if option E did not Exist
Show more

Option (A) is not correct.
You missed out on the first line of the argument: "Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993."
The number includes the videos rented out by Videorama too. All outlets together rented fewer videos this year. So even if VIdeorama rented out 7000 videos, it is included in the total which is 10,000 lower than 1993 total.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 10 Jun 2021, 22:10
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Hopefully, I can clear up any doubt between (A) and (E) :).

We need to weaken Brad's objection, which states that Videorama only sold 4,000 videos. Therefore, that number is not enough to account for the 10,000 fewer videos that the video rental outlets rented out in 1994 vs. 1993.

(A) is tempting because it is easy to think that Brad is only focusing on the number of videos Videorama sold not on the number it rented. Even then, had Videorama rented 5,000 videos that doesn't quite add up to 10,000. (A) therefore is not the 'best answer.'

(E) Brad's objection focuses on the number of videos bought at Videorama. His argument is that number alone cannot account for the 10,000. However (E) directly counters Brad's argument by offering an explanation for how 4,000 can account for the 10,000: friends frequently lend videos they own to other friends. For instance, if one video is loaned 5 times that is 5 fewer people who will rent that video from the other Centerville video stores. THE ANSWER

Hope that helps :).
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But nowhere in the argument is it stated that lending is a new phenomenon. It may have led to say a %age decrease in the past too, which had well been taken care of in the base figure itself.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 05 Jul 2021, 23:50
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ChrisLele
Hopefully, I can clear up any doubt between (A) and (E) :).

We need to weaken Brad's objection, which states that Videorama only sold 4,000 videos. Therefore, that number is not enough to account for the 10,000 fewer videos that the video rental outlets rented out in 1994 vs. 1993.

(A) is tempting because it is easy to think that Brad is only focusing on the number of videos Videorama sold not on the number it rented. Even then, had Videorama rented 5,000 videos that doesn't quite add up to 10,000. (A) therefore is not the 'best answer.'

(E) Brad's objection focuses on the number of videos bought at Videorama. His argument is that number alone cannot account for the 10,000. However (E) directly counters Brad's argument by offering an explanation for how 4,000 can account for the 10,000: friends frequently lend videos they own to other friends. For instance, if one video is loaned 5 times that is 5 fewer people who will rent that video from the other Centerville video stores. THE ANSWER

Hope that helps :).
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Is the conclusion: Videorama responsible for the deficit or videorama selling videos responsible for the deficit?

Gagan
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 16 Jan 2022, 03:51
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J's P1: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. (Inference: Video rentals rent out videos and do not sell them and they've had bad business in 1994)
J's P2: Videorama opened in 1994 and both sells and rents videos
C: The decline was because of the opening of Videorama

B's P1: The decline was on the order of 10,000 rentals and Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.
B's C: There was some other reason

Task: We need to weaken Brads argument and strengthen Jennifers

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold. - Tempting but does it truly explain why the rentals have gone down? They've mentioned that Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 and based on the argument we need to include the videorama's rentals in this number. So, we can eliminate.
(B) In 1994 two new outlets that rent but that do not sell videos opened in Centerville. - But rentals on a overall, have reduced so the opening of competitors does not change anything and does not strength Jennifers argument.
(C) Most of the video rental outlets in Centerville rent videos at a discount on certain nights of the week. - eliminate, not relevant
(D) People often buy videos of movies that they have previously seen in a theater. - okay so? eliminate
(E) People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends. -Since videorama sells CDs now at low prices, people are tempted to buy instead of rent. After buying the CDs, they frequently rent out to their friends. This makes sense. Before 1993, people would rent from the stores, watch the videos and return them. this didn't allow them to loan the videos to their friends because 1. there usually is a time frame attached to the rental 2. everyone has an access to rent movies.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 28 Feb 2022, 00:16
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gautrang
Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline in rentals was probably due almost entirely to the February 1994 opening of Videorama, the first and only video rental outlet in the area that, in addition to renting videos, also sold them cheaply.

Brad: There must be another explanation: as you yourself said, the decline was on the order of 10,000 rentals. Yet Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the force of the objection that Brad presents to Jennifer's explanation?

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold.
Show more

I believe many people mark option A because they miss understanding that when the passage says "Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993," Video rental outlets also include Videorama since Videorama is also located in Centerville.

Thus, even if I change option A to say

In 1994 Videorama rented out 6000 more videos than it sold.

Option A would still be wrong.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 21 Oct 2023, 07:18
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Understanding the argument - Video rental outlets handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. And the reason they gave is that Videorama, in addition to renting, also sold them cheaply.
Brad counters and points to 4000 sold and points to an alternate cause of decline. And we need to challenge and show that in fact the cheap sales somehow led to 10,000 fewer rentals.

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold. - Say it rented out 4001 videos and that doesn't add to 10,000. But if it's 6,000 then it's ok. So may or may not weaken. We don't know. Out.
(B) In 1994 two new outlets that rent but that do not sell videos opened in Centerville. - out of scope. Our scope is limited to examining the connection between video rental outlets selling 10,000 fewer and cheap sales by Videorama.
(C) Most of the video rental outlets in Centerville rent videos at a discount on certain nights of the week. - out of scope.
(D) People often buy videos of movies that they have previously seen in a theater. - out of scope
(E) People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends. - Exactly. It shows the ripple effect.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 09 Jan 2024, 04:58
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How can C be correct? I do understand that people can loan the videos to their friends, but this nature might have been present before Videorama came into the market.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 10 Jan 2024, 04:57
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please check it out; if wrong, let me know.
The reason why A is wrong:

if we use "rented out more videos than it sold", it means that the number of rented videos can be, say, 4001 or 100000. The latter case will inevitably weaken the argument because of [100000(rented)+4000(sold)], which shows the possibility but in the other case of 4001, it will not do so since the number equals 8001 < 10000(total decline) = 4001(rented)+4000(sold).
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 01 Mar 2024, 08:47
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Kartikeya40
How can C be correct? I do understand that people can loan the videos to their friends, but this nature might have been present before Videorama came into the market.


 
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­Choice (E) specifically states that "People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends." It doesn't say anything about people who have RENTED videos.

Also, if you own a video, you can loan it to as many friends as you want for as long as you want. A video rental is only for a limited time, which hampers your ability to loan a rented video to friends.

Sure, maybe some people were sharing rented videos before Videorama existed. But if people can now buy videos cheaply and if people who OWN videos frequently loan them to friends, there will be a lot of people who no longer need to rent videos -- they can just borrow from the friends who bought the cheap videos. 

And remember, you aren't looking for a choice that DISPROVES Brad's point. You're looking for the choice that would most seriously weaken the force of Brad's objection, and (E) is by far the BEST option of the ones we're given.

I hope that helps!­
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 01 Mar 2024, 12:59
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Falcon1999
please check it out; if wrong, let me know.

The reason why A is wrong:

if we use "rented out more videos than it sold", it means that the number of rented videos can be, say, 4001 or 100000. The latter case will inevitably weaken the argument because of [100000(rented)+4000(sold)], which shows the possibility but in the other case of 4001, it will not do so since the number equals 8001 < 10000(total decline) = 4001(rented)+4000(sold).
Show more
­Taking it one step further: it doesn't actually matter whether (A) is true.

Maybe Videorama only rented 1,000 videos. But who cares? All that matters is that videorama SOLD 4000 and that video rental outlets in Centerville TOGETHER handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The actual number of rentals by Videorama doesn't affect Jennifer's argument or Brad's objection, so (A) has to go.­

I hope that helps a bit! 
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 03 Oct 2024, 11:35
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Hi! But if it loaned 1 time only? We wouldnt know if it summed 10k. In this case, how does it differ from option A?
ChrisLele
Hopefully, I can clear up any doubt between (A) and (E) :).

We need to weaken Brad's objection, which states that Videorama only sold 4,000 videos. Therefore, that number is not enough to account for the 10,000 fewer videos that the video rental outlets rented out in 1994 vs. 1993.

(A) is tempting because it is easy to think that Brad is only focusing on the number of videos Videorama sold not on the number it rented. Even then, had Videorama rented 5,000 videos that doesn't quite add up to 10,000. (A) therefore is not the 'best answer.'

(E) Brad's objection focuses on the number of videos bought at Videorama. His argument is that number alone cannot account for the 10,000. However (E) directly counters Brad's argument by offering an explanation for how 4,000 can account for the 10,000: friends frequently lend videos they own to other friends. For instance, if one video is loaned 5 times that is 5 fewer people who will rent that video from the other Centerville video stores. THE ANSWER

Hope that helps :).
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 19 Aug 2025, 07:29
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Hi GMATNinja KarishmaB,
Can I say that (A) is trying to explain a paradox in the given situation and (E) is the one actually weakening Brad's objection?
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 19 Aug 2025, 20:54
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In my opinion option a is wrong because if we see the option the number of copies rented can be more than 4000 so it can be 4001 or it can be 10000 we can be sure on that so it is not best option to weaken the argument.
if any thoughts please do let me know.
gautrang
Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 fewer video rentals in 1994 than in 1993. The decline in rentals was probably due almost entirely to the February 1994 opening of Videorama, the first and only video rental outlet in the area that, in addition to renting videos, also sold them cheaply.

Brad: There must be another explanation: as you yourself said, the decline was on the order of 10,000 rentals. Yet Videorama sold only 4,000 videos in 1994.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the force of the objection that Brad presents to Jennifer's explanation?

(A) In 1994 Videorama rented out more videos than it sold.
(B) In 1994 two new outlets that rent but that do not sell videos opened in Centerville.
(C) Most of the video rental outlets in Centerville rent videos at a discount on certain nights of the week.
(D) People often buy videos of movies that they have previously seen in a theater.
(E) People who own videos frequently loan them to their friends.
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Jennifer: Video rental outlets in Centerville together handled 10,000 20 Aug 2025, 15:31
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ADhanjal
Hi GMATNinja KarishmaB,

Can I say that (A) is trying to explain a paradox in the given situation and (E) is the one actually weakening Brad's objection?
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(A) doesn't actually explain anything because we don't know the TOTAL number of video rentals handled each year.

Instead, we only know the difference. Maybe Videorama handled 1,000 rentals, maybe it handled 10,000 rentals. Regardless, we have no idea how that number compares to the total number of video rentals handled in Centerville in 1994.

Also, we're told that Videorama is "in the area" of Centerville, but it's unclear whether Videorama is located in Centerville or simply near Centerville. We know that total rentals in Centerville decreased by 10,000 in 1994. So, for example, maybe there were 60,000 rentals in 1993 and only 50,000 in 1994. If Videorama is in Centerville, then it doesn't matter how many of the 50,000 were handled by Videorama and (A) is irrelevant.

The question still remains: why did the total decrease by 10,000 even though Videorama only sold 4,000 cheap videos?

IF Videorama is not considered part of Centerville and IF rentals handled by Videorama accounted for a large portion of the total rentals in the area, then that could certainly explain the decrease and thus strengthen Brad's argument (by showing that there is another explanation aside from Jennifer's).

But we can't make those assumptions because we don't know the total numbers. Without more information, we can't say that (A) strengthens, weakens, or explains anything at all.
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