Hi Mike,
I have a lot of respect for your explanations on the questions posted on this forum. Thanks for being here to help the aspirants out.
Regarding the solution of this question:
My reasoning for option D- the conclusion of the argument made by the mktg chief is: since J is successful, S will be successful. Now the first part about J might be a claim but in the context of the argument it is working as a premise. Is a premise always factual or some claims can also be taken as premise? Please help.
Besides, in option A, the consultant is not questioning, right? He is just stating a claim. Can it be taken as questioning ?
Isn't d a better answer choice than a. It essentially is saying the same thing but it states the added point of the 'evidence' mentioned.[/quote]
Dear
Avinashs87,
I'm happy to respond.
In the question, part of the marketing chief's argument is the idea that (sales campaign) caused (popularity of Product J). In other words, in his mind, the cause was the sales campaign and the effect was the popularity of Product J. The consultant switches around the order of cause and effect, saying that the popularity of Product J was the cause and the effectiveness of the sale campaign was the effect. Thus, he questioned the posited relation of cause and effect. That's choice
(A), the OA.
Choice (D) is a good distractor, but think about it. What exactly is the premise? A premise is something factual, something presented as indisputable. What the consultant says appears to be a premise, for example. Here's what's very tricky. If the marketing chief said what he said and no one responded, we would be in the position of having to accept his first sentence as a premise, as factual. BUT because the consultant called that very statement into question, we cannot consider it a premise.
Calling a premise into question would be question factual information. For example, if person #1 said, last year our company sold over 10000 new vehicles, and then person #2 said, more than half of those sales were made the year before and, for inventory purposes, carried over to last year's balance sheets----that would be an example of calling a premise into question. It's basically saying: what you said about the facts is not correct, because those are not the facts.
Does this distinction make sense?
Mike[/quote]