Bunuel wrote:
Some analysts predict that next year will see total worldwide sea shipping tonnage increase by 2% over the current year. However, captains of freight ships generally expect that worldwide shipping tonnage will decrease next year.
At issue is the amount of freight that will be shifted from sea ships to freight airplanes as compared to growth in the overall demand for freight transport. The analysts believe growth in demand will outstrip the shift to freight airplanes; the ship captains believe the opposite.
The two portions in
boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first portion is evidence that supports a position; the second portion is a position that is not necessarily true based on the evidence.
(B) The first portion represents one of two opposed positions; the second portion describes the underlying reason for the difference in position.
(C) The first portion represents one of two opposed positions; the second portion is evidence in support of that position.
(D) The first portion is evidence that supports a position; the second portion is evidence that supports an opposed position.
(E) The first portion represents one of two opposed positions; the second portion represents the opposing position.
Project CR Butler: Critical Reasoning
For all CR butler Questions Click Here So in boldfaced-sentence CR, I know I'm always IDing the structural role the boldfaced sentence(s) is/are playing in the argument. As I read, I'm trying to specify what that is.
So I read the first sentence--it seems to be a belief (a prediction) some people have. The next word is 'however,' so I immediately know there's going to be some sort of conflict with that belief--maybe sea shipping won't increase like those people think? Sure enough, we're told other people think this won't happen. So now I have two points of view, but I note I don't have any support for either POV yet.
The third sentence, the second boldface, starts with 'at issue is,' so I'm realizing: this is the crux of the disagreement. Whatever this issue is about to be is the thing that explains how these people came to their opposite conclusions. It's something about changing freight from boat to plane, but truth is, I already know that bold's *job* so I don't really need to specific contents (in general, this is true of boldfaced arguments. Typically, the details don't matter as much).
So I have a prediction: the first bold is what some people believe (and what others don't), the second is the issue that leads to the different beliefs.
A and D are gone for the first part of the answers--the first bold does not 'support' a position, it is a position. C is gone because the second bold doesn't support the first. E is not the opposing position to the first.
B is right. The second explains why there is a different in positions. The first is one of those two positions.