Since it has become known that several of a bank’s top executives have

Question

Since it has become known that several of a bank’s top executives have been buying shares in their own bank, the bank’s depositors, who had been worried by rumors that the bank faced impending financial collapse, have been greatly relieved. They reason that since top executives evidently have faith in the bank’s financial soundness, those worrisome rumors must be false. They might well be overoptimistic, however since corporate executives have sometimes bought shares in their own company in a calculated attempt to dispel negative rumors about the company’s health.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

A. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states the counterevidence on which the argument relies.

B. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is an intermediate conclusion supported by the evidence.

C. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is evidence that undermines the support for this intermediate conclusion.

D. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.

E. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states a further conclusion supported by this intermediate conclusion.

Similar Question

abhimahna · Accepted Answer

I donot agree with the fist statement given in option D, but I can get D as the answer by POE.

Let me explain how:

It says depositors are relieved from financial collapse because top executives have been buying shares in their own bank.

Now, it says depositors are saying  top executives have faith in the bank’s financial soundness , thus being worried is of no use.

But the author concluded that  you are overoptimistic  because blah blah...

Now, I can very well say 2nd is Author's main conclusion. And first is the premise used by depositors to come to their own conclusion.

A. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states the counterevidence on which the argument relies.  --> 2nd is not a counter evidence. It is the main conclusion. Hence, incorrect.

B. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is an intermediate conclusion supported by the evidence. -->  2nd is the main conclusion of the author.

C. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is evidence that undermines the support for this intermediate conclusion. -->  Same as A.

D. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is the main conclusion of the argument. -->  Here, I got 2nd statement correct. I donot agree with 1st boldface here. But since I have rejected all other options, I am left with only D as the answer.

E. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states a further conclusion supported by this intermediate conclusion. -->  Actually, the conclusion made by author is opposite to what depositors concluded.

akshayk · Answer

Argument

Several bank exec's are buying shares of their own banks, and this has relieved investor tension. 
Author's Conclusion based on investor reasoning - Top exec's have faith in the financial soundness of the bank (Reasoning/Premise) ; Worrisome rumours might be false (Conclusion)
Author's Conclusion - Investors might be overoptimistic.
 Author's conclusion is calling the investor's conclusion into question i.e. top exec's have faith, and hence rumours are false.
 
Premise Supporting Main Conclusion - To dispel rumours, execs are known to buy shares

A - First part is still OK, but the second part is not counter evidence. OUT
B - First part is still OK, but the second part is NOT the intermediate conclusion. OUT.
C - First part is OK, but the second part is NOT evidence. OUT.
D - First part is OK, and second part is perfect. KEEP.
E - First part is OK, second part is NOT. OUT.

D is the answer by POE.

akshayk · Answer

I agree with you, the first BF is a premise supporting the intermediate conclusion i.e. these rumours are crap.

AdityaHongunti · Answer

egmat   bb   chetan2u

How can the first part be the intermediate conclusion ? As it is the sum of the reasoning. Please share your thoughts

Posted from my mobile device

chetan2u · Answer

Hi .

The second portion is of course the main conclusion and that is the only reason why answer can be D...

BUT the first portion is not an intermediate conclusion. Intermediate conclusion is actually just after that bold face -  those worrisome rumours must be false 
The first is a premise supporting the intermediate conclusion.

Does not seem to be OG question. They will never error in this way.

Poor quality. Dump it.

harvard2019 · Answer

This is a poor quality question. I don't agree that D's second half is main conclusion.
This passage seems to have 2 opinion from authors.
a) those worrisome rumors must be false. 
b) They might well be overoptimistic

For my understanding intermediate conclusion leads to Main conclusion but these seem to be two possible explanations for a scenario.

1st half of D is completely wrong as also mentioned by Chetan above.

khan0210 · Answer

Can someone confirm this is a GMATPREP question? Given the dubious wording of the answer choice, if this is not a GMATPREP question, can the tag be removed?

AnirudhaS · Answer

Can we change the bold parts to the following to make the question correct?

Since it has become known that several of a bank’s top executives have been buying shares in their own bank, the bank’s depositors, who had been worried by rumors that the bank faced impending financial collapse, have been greatly relieved. They reason that since top executives evidently have faith in the bank’s financial soundness, those worrisome rumors must be false. They might well be overoptimistic, however since corporate executives have sometimes bought shares in their own company in a calculated attempt to dispel negative rumors about the company’s health.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

BF1: those worrisome rumors must be false = Intermediate conclusion
BF2: They might well be overoptimistic = Main conclusion

Then at least D would be correct.
D. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states the counterevidence on which the argument relies.
Second half is not an counterevidence bur rather the main conclusion therfore out

B. The first summarizes the evidence used in the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is an intermediate conclusion supported by the evidence.
The second half is no intermediate conclusion it's the main one therefore out

C. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is evidence that undermines the support for this intermediate conclusion.
The second half actually supports the intermediate conclusion , out

D. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.
This is exactly the meaning conveyed by the boldfaced therefore let us hang on to it

E. The first is an intermediate conclusion that forms part of the reasoning called into question by the argument; the second states a further conclusion supported by this intermediate conclusion.
The second half isn't supported by the first half therefore out

THerefore IMO D

Raman109 · Answer

However, I got a D as an answer by the process of elimination. But there is a slight problem with option D. The second boldface is the main conclusion - correct. And the only option that states that

The first boldface is a premise used to support the intermediate conclusion i.e. those worrisome rumors must be false. Saying the entire first boldface as the intermediate conclusion is a bit of a problem. Maybe an issue while posting the question or an issue with the source.

Iwillget770 · Answer

Hi  Bunuel   bb

Please check whether this is a GMATPREP question.

As per the comments above and also according to me, Option D's first part is not correct.

If it is not an official question then we can remove the GMATPREP tag

yipmewmew · Answer

Can any experts weigh in on why B is incorrect and D is correct? Also how is the second BF the main conclusion of the argument? I thought the main conclusion would be "those worrisome rumors are true" .
Is it necessary for main conclusion to be explicitly written in the stem?

GMATNinja   KarishmaB

agrasan · Answer

Summary: 
1. Bank's depositors think that bank's top execs are buying shares in their own bank which is a good thing and shows that those top execs have faith in the bank's financial soundness. These lead those depositors to believe that earlier  worrisome rumors must be false .
2. Then the author comes and says that Wait,  you guys might be overoptimistic  because corporate execs sometimes buy shares in their own company to dispel negative rumors about the company's health.

Depositors think: 
Bank's top execs buying shares --> Execs have faith in bank's health --> Worrisome rumors must be false

Author thinks: 
Corporate execs sometimes buy own company's shares --> Depositors might be overoptimistic

Aakanksha1194 · Answer

Can Experts please help to identify whether the second part is the main conclusion or not

WhitEngagePrep · Answer

It can be easy to get turned around in Boldfaced arguments because of the way they're written. Typically they have multiple conclusions on the way to the authors primary conclusion, and the sentences can be so dense that unpacking them often takes work! This passage has 2 conclusions: one for the depositors (the worrisome rumors must be false) and one for the author (b2 - t hey might well be overoptimistic). If you wanted a walkthrough of the sentence deconstruction I used for this passage - feel free to follow below! Rewriting mostly by re-ordering can help! - Bank depositors had been worried by rumors that the bank faced impending financial collapse. - bank’s top executives have been buying shares in their own bank - The bank’s depositors have been greatly relieved to learn this This is all factual background. - the depositors think this means that top executives have faith in the bank’s financial soundness - and because of this, they think must be false. The depositors have a conclusion (rumors must be false), and bold 1 is the support for that depositor conclusion . - apparently corporate execs have bought shares on purpose when there were negative rumors, - THEREFORE, might well be overoptimistic That means that Bold 2 is the conclusion of the author! Hope this helps!

Whit

soniasw16 · Answer

Are you able to explain why BF1 is the intermediate conclusion? It looks more like the support for the intermediate conclusion   the bank’s depositors, who had been worried by rumors that the bank faced impending financial collapse, have been greatly relieved. ]

Since it has become known that several of a bank’s top executives have

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