Newsletter: A condominium generally offers more value for its cost

Newsletter: A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale. The homeowners in a condominium association can collectively buy products and services that they could not afford on their own. And since a professional management company handles maintenance of common areas, condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than individual homeowners do.

PREMISE 1 for main conclusion:-The homeowners in a condominium association can collectively buy products and services that they could not afford on their own
PREMISE 2 for both intermediate and main conclusion :-A professional management company handles maintenance of common areas.
INTERMEDIATE CONCLUSION:- Condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than individual homeowners do {\(2^{nd}\) Boldface}
MAIN CONCLUSION"- A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale.{\(1^{st}\) Boldface}


ANSWER IS A
The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles in the newsletter’s argument?

A. The first is the argument’s main conclusion; the second is another conclusion supporting the first.
B. The first is a premise, for which no evidence is provided; the second is the argument’s only conclusion.
C. The first is a conclusion supporting the second; the second is the argument’s main conclusion.
D. The first is the argument’s only conclusion; the second is a premise, for which no evidence is provided.
E. Both are premises, for which no evidence is provided, and both support the argument’s only conclusion.

Newsletter:
1) A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale. Looks like a fact at first glance. Let's read through.

2) The homeowners in a condominium association can collectively buy products and services that they could not afford on their own. It gives reason/evidence why the fact in first line is true.

3) And since a professional management company handles maintenance of common areas, Presence of 'since' means it is a reason for something.

4) [b]condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than individual homeowners do. 'because' of the fact in 3rd line owners are achieving something. So, this becomes conclusion of the third sentence.


Now looking closely at the argument statement 1 is the conclusion as other statements are supporting the conclusion by presenting evidence. And second bold phrase is the conclusion of 3rd statement. Both bold faces support each other.

Statement A mentions it correctly.

Main Conclusion - A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale.

Consideration - The homeowners in a condominium association can collectively buy products and services that they could not afford on their own.

Analysis - And since a professional management company handles maintenance of common areas,

Fact Supporting Main Conclusion- condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than individual homeowners do.

The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles in the newsletter’s argument?
A. The first is the argument’s main conclusion; the second is another conclusion supporting the first.
B. The first is a premise, for which no evidence is provided; the second is the argument’s only conclusion.
C. The first is a conclusion supporting the second; the second is the argument’s main conclusion.
D. The first is the argument’s only conclusion; the second is a premise, for which no evidence is provided.
E. Both are premises, for whichno evidence is provided, and both support the argument’s only conclusion.

Official Answer:-

Argument Construction

Situation Homeowners in a condominium association can buy products and services collectively. A management company handles maintenance of condominium common areas.

Reasoning What roles are played in the argument by the statement that a condominium generally offers more value for its cost than a house because of economies of scale and by the statement that condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than owners of individual homes do? In the passage, the first sentence (the first boldface statement) is a generalization. The second sentence provides an example of the economies of scale mentioned in the first sentence, so it helps support the first sentence as a conclusion. In the third sentence, the word since indicates that the first clause is a premise supporting the second clause (the second boldface statement) as a conclusion. That conclusion itself provides another example of the economies of scale mentioned in the first sentence, so it also helps support that first sentence as a conclusion.

Option A is Correct. As explained above, the first boldface statement is supported by the rest of the statements in the argument, so it is the main conclusion. The second boldface statement supports the first, but is itself a conclusion supported by the since clause preceding it.

Option B is incorrect. The second and third sentences in the argument provide examples of economies of scale. These examples are evidence supporting the first boldface statement as a conclusion.

Option C is incorrect. Since the second boldface statement provides evidence of the economies of scale described by the first, it supports the first as a conclusion.

Option D is incorrect. The since clause immediately preceding the second boldface statement provides evidence that supports it, so the second boldface statement is a conclusion.

Option E is incorrect. Both the second and the third sentences of the argument support the first boldface statement as a conclusion. And the since clause immediately preceding the second boldface statement supports it as a conclusion.

We’re looking for an answer that relays the following structure: Main Conclusion, Intermediate Conclusion. (A) is awesome here, but let’s see where we might have been led astray. The premises are in purple.

The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles in the newsletter’s argument?

(A) The first is the argument’s main conclusion; the second is another conclusion supporting the first.
Sounds amazing but let’s move on to ensure we’re 100% about (A).

(B) The first is a premise, for which no evidence is provided; the second is the argument’s only conclusion.
Sure, you might argue the first is a premise BUT if you read onwards, you begin to realise that the newsletter then talks about how an association lowers costs (economies of scale!) and therefore, support the main conclusion. Also, there is definitely evidence provided. And the second half is incorrect…since the first sentence is the newsletter’s main conclusion.

(C) The first is a conclusion supporting the second; the second is the argument’s main conclusion.
Hm, this could be tricky BUT if we think about this argument, the second bold face talks about spending less time and money, which is under the bucket of “economies of scale”. Therefore, this answer choice is reversed!

(D) The first is the argument’s only conclusion; the second is a premise, for which no evidence is provided.
No sir!The first is not the only conclusion. Also the “since a professional….” clause in the last sentence gives the signal that what follows is a conclusion…not a premise! Also, we’re drowning in evidence here!

(E) Both are premises, for which no evidence is provided, and both support the argument’s only conclusion.
Ah, no. We’ve got evidence! Also they’re both definitely conclusions!

Dear AjiteshArun ChiranjeevSingh,

I have one question on the first sentence in the passage:
A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale.

Why cannot this sentence be considered a fact?

Although I notice that there is "because of", which is a signal of a premise-conclusion, what confuses me is that the author uses the word "generally".
What I understand is that, the author OBSERVED some phenomenon and took note of the frequency at which that phenomenon have happened. Therefore, presenting the frequency from the author's observation should be considered as a fact.

Please help
Varot

Hi varotkorn,

It'd be great to get a few more opinions on this, as I don't use the word fact in structure questions.

ChiranjeevSingh VeritasKarishma
(B) The first is a premise, for which no evidence is provided; the second is the argument’s only conclusion.
(D) The first is the argument’s only conclusion; the second is a premise, for which no evidence is provided.
"premise'' is already 'evidence' so far we know. So, why do we need to ''provide evidence'' for a premise? Can we cross out choice B and D by this way?

argument’s only conclusion:
If there is a ''conclusion'', it is from author's conclusion or other side's conclusion. So, it is enough to say ''argument's conclusion'', i think. So, can we remove that choice by seeing the word ''only''? I mean: why do the extreme word 'only' used here?
Thanks__

Sometimes arguments have intermediate conclusions.

For example, in this argument, premise A supports conclusion B. Conclusion B supports main conclusion C.

Premise A: a professional management company handles maintenance of common areas,
Intermediate Conclusion B: condominium owners spend less time and money on maintenance than individual homeowners do.
Main Conclusion C: A condominium generally offers more value for its cost than an individual house because of economies of scale.

Conclusion B supports conclusion C by giving one way in which condo owners spend less time and money because of economies of scale.


Many arguments have a single conclusion only (the author's conclusion). Rest all are premises supporting this conclusion.

Sometimes, two different aspects of a debate are discussed in an argument. So the author may give an opposing view (someone else's opinion) and his own view (the conclusion of the argument).

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