let us read the paragraph.
the first sentence states a fact/gives context. the second sentence also does the same.
the next sentence talks about what the companies claimed -
"the similarities are coincidental and occurred because the designers independently reached the same solution to the same problem."the next sentence talks about the what the author thinks about this/the author's opinion. Note that the conclusion of the argument IS the author's final opinion. Hence, the main conclusion is -
"The similarities are too fundamental to be mere coincidence, however."The "however" indicates that the author disagrees with the claims made by the two companies. The next two sentences support the author's conclusion by stating that the two products not only look alike but also function in a similar manner.
We have been asked to find the main conclusion of the argument. Any option that is a restatement of the author's opinion is the correct answer.
Which answer option does this? Option C.
Option A - Incorrect.
True. But this is not the main point of the argument. The author uses this data to support his main conclusion that the similarities are not a coincidence.
Option B - Incorrect.
Not necessarily. Might be that OCF copied it from Ergotech or that both of them copied the design from some external source.
Option D - Incorrect.
this is claim made by the two companies, not the author.
Option E - Incorrect.
this is too generic to be the main point. The author talks about specific products unveiled by Ergotech and OCF.
Moreover, this option says - "new products that at first appear to be unique ..." --- the companies claimed the products to be unique.
We do not know whether these products "first appeared" to be unique to the author and then she revised her decision.
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