Need help with translating BoldF answer choices into plain English

Question

Hi everyone!

I have a question about the "translation" into plain English of some terms used in BF quesions, namely in the answer choices.

" The first is a  criticism, endorsed by the argument , of a funding plan; the second is a point the argument makes in favor of adopting an alternative plan."

What does this mean? The argument? So it means like "supported by the author?" and "supported by the general purpose of the text" ? What is the meaning of word "argument" here? The argument itself is the idea that the author expresses and defends, correct? So "endorsed by the argument" is the same as " supported by the author" ?

Should we just read any "arguments does bla-bla" as "The author does bla-bla" ?

And btw, if you know any other useful "translations", please share them!

Thank you!

paidlukkha · Answer

iliavko Use a strategy to solve the GMAT q, be it any time...
For Boldface in particular, try to understand either of the BF's
Then, try to understand how the BF is related to conclusion, or if one of the BF in itself is a conclusion
Then, cancel out all those options which talk different about the BF which you understood.

You'll always be left out with 2 options, then see which one fits the other BF

iliavko · Answer

Thank you for your answer!

You see, most times I understand the role of every BF, but then when I go to answer choices, the ambigous language confuses me. That's why I have questions about the "meaning" of the terms used in the answer choices.

egmat · Answer

Dear iliavko , Trust me, if approached correctly, Bold Face questions are one the easiest questions you'll find on the GMAT. Have a look at our Bold Face concept file from here: https://bit.ly/246thck to understand how we tell our students to approach Bold Face questions. Also, review the articles at the links given below 1) Solve Critical Reasoning Bold Face questions: Step by Step Approach https://bit.ly/1VFQT6B 2) Critical Reasoning- Bold Face Practice Questions https://bit.ly/23NizL8 Hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions you have. Regards, Rajat Sadana

ccooley · Answer

This is a common issue, so don't sweat it! The answer choices are intentionally designed that way to overcomplicate things, because the structure of a GMAT CR argument is rarely very complex in itself. They need  some  way to construct tough Structure questions, so that's where the bizarre, wordy answer choices come into it.

Almost all of the time, only two things actually matter when you're reading a Structure answer choice.

1. Is it a premise or a conclusion?
2. Is it the  author's  premise/conclusion, or is it  someone else's  premise/conclusion?

Check out some random Structure questions and convince yourself that this is true. The overwhelming majority of answer choices can be translated to something like "the first boldfaced portion is the author's premise, and the second is someone else's premise." "The first is someone else's conclusion, and the second is the author's premise." "The first is the author's premise, and the second is the author's conclusion." Etc. That means that when you first encounter one of these arguments, the two critical things to understand are what the conclusion is (and what evidence supports it), and what different perspectives are at play in the argument.

As you study, jot down words and phrases that seem to correspond to 'author's conclusion', 'author's premise', 'someone else's conclusion', etc. Some examples to get you started:

conclusion language: argument, claim, proposal, belief, suggestion
premise language: evidence, premise, proof, point, etc.

There's some overlap, but it's rare enough that the above strategy generally works.

I'd need to see the argument itself to translate your specific case above. But it seems to me that the first bit refers to either the author's conclusion, or one of the author's premises. That depends on whether the main conclusion of the argument is 'the other funding plan is bad', or if, instead, the first boldfaced section just provides one of several reasons it's bad. "Endorsed by the argument" simply tells you that it's the author's belief, not someone else's.

Need help with translating BoldF answer choices into plain English

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