Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies

Question

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday. The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

(A) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered.

(B) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

(C) None of the shipments sent by Comcorp to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.

(D) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on Thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

(E) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on Thursday.

Source  :  GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

VeritasPrepBrandon · Accepted Answer

This is an inference question. We are given a series of facts, and then asked to draw an inference. On inference questions, the bar is very high -> the correct answer must 100% without a doubt be true.

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday. The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

a. All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered. 
 We know that all of the specially ordered shipments contain building supplies, but some others could have contained building supplies as well. Do not reverse the argument!

b. None of Comcorp's shipments sent on friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.
 None of the specially ordered shipments were sent out on Friday, but we know that the shipments sent to Truax were all non-specially ordered (because they contained no building supplies). These could have been sent on any day, we have no idea.

c. None of the shipments sent by Comcorp by Truax Construction last week was specially ordered. 
 If all of the specially ordered shipments contained building supplies, and none of the shipments to Truax contained building supplies, then it is 100% certain that none of the shipments sent to Truax was specially ordered. Our 100% bar truth has been reached!

d. None of Comcorp's shipments sent on thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. 
 We have no idea what day the shipments to Truax were sent. All specially ordered shipments were sent on Thursday, but we have no limit on when the non-specially ordered shipments were sent.

e. All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on thursday.
 Similar to answer choice a, it is possible that building supplies were also included in non-specially ordered shipments, and these could have been sent on another day.

I hope this helps!

KarishmaB · Answer

Here is what the premises tell us: Friday – No building supplies Thursday – All 5 specially ordered shipments of last week. All 5 were building supplies. There could have been other shipments on Thursday and building supplies (non-specially ordered) could have been sent out on other days too except Friday. Truax Construction – Got 4 shipments. No building supplies. (So, they were not special shipments and could have been sent on Friday or any other day) If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true? (A) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered. Not sure. We know the 5 were specially ordered. We don't know about the 4. (B) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. We don't know. We know Friday shipments were not building supplies. Rest we don't know. (C) None of the shipments sent by Comcorp by Truax Construction last week was specially ordered. Yes, all specially ordered shipments were sent on Thursday and all had building supplies. But Truax got NO building supplies. Hence Truax got no specially ordered shipments. (D) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on Thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. 5 specially ordered shipments were sent on Thursday we know. But we don't know whether any other non special shipments were also sent on Thursday. Those could have been sent to Truax. (E) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on Thursday. We don't know about other shipments at all. They could have been building supplies and could have been sent on say Monday. Answer (C) Discussion on Inference Questions: https://youtu.be/PMnU9ULdSfs

TwoFaceHarvey · Answer

Went for C which looks better than D. However, the statement states that 'The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of  those  specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies.'
Here,  each of those  explicitly states that only out of those specially ordered shipments which were sent on Thursday consisted of building supplies. It is nowhere mentioned that only 5 specially ordered shipments were there. There could be more than 5 specially ordered shipments and one of them might have been sent to Truax containing not building supplies but something else like vegetables supplies.

IMO none of the options can be 100% true from the given information.

Harley1980 · Answer

Hello  swappatil123 
But in argument present an emphasis on last week:
"The five specially ordered shipments sent out  last week  (and further it's additional information about these orders) were sent out on Thursday"

So I think from this part we can infer that on this week were only 5 special ordered shipments.

And in case that you describe I think phrase will be sound like:
"The five specially ordered shipments that were sent out last week on Thursday"

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Truax did not receive any building supplies, and that means that Truax did not receive any of the SPECIALLY ordered shipments sent on Thursday. But, on Thursday, Comcorp may have sent Truax a shipment that was NOT specially ordered.

zoezhuyan · Answer

Dear experts, this question kills me a lot, although I know the correct answer choice MUST BE C, I still prefer to B, here is my reasoning:

there was no shipment sent out on Friday to any place, so I can infer that no shipment was sent to Truax, that's why I choose B

I cross off C because of the word "specially", I think "specially" is implicit. what does specially mean? the building supplies ? but why not other features, it is highly possible that "specially" refers to ,say, high price, or emergency, or unusual big size.

I cannot figure out my reasoning bug, but I am sure I am incorrect.

Please please please,

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

Some help here...note that the point about Friday is that:

no shipments  of building supplies  were sent out on Friday

This does NOT mean that no shipments overall were sent out on Friday - just that no shipments of building supplies, specifically, were sent out on Friday. Friday could have contained shipments of anything else (like food or flowers). So when you say "there was no shipment sent out on Friday to any place" you're missing that ever-important modifier "of building supplies." They specify a particular type of shipment for Friday, not shipments overall.

And interesting point on "specially" in C. I read "specially ordered" as a particular type of order (I'd say an opposite of specially-ordered here is "routine" - a special order is one you make one time, but a routine order is something that the company ships to you every week or every month until you indicate otherwise). So I look at this question as taking about Concorp's shipments, of which we know there are at least two (but probably more) subtypes: 1) building supplies and 2) specially ordered. We know that all the specially ordered shipments went out Thursday, and that they all contained building supplies. If Truax didn't get building supplies, it then didn't get a specially ordered shipment because all of those were of building supplies.

RutujaDeshmukh19 · Answer

Let us break down the argument and understand it in a better way

Comcorp Shipping Clerk:  
Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday. 
 
 The clerk says that no shipments were sent out on Friday of last week  
 Comcorp Shipping Clerk:  
The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies. 
 
 There were five specially ordered shipments send last week on Thursday. 
 All the five specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies.  
 Comcorp Shipping Clerk:  
Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.
 
 Four shipments sent to Truax Construction last week 
 These did not consist of building supplies 
 This implies that the shipments to Truax Construction last week did not consist of specially ordered shipments.

(A) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered. - Incorrect  
 
 Since, Truax Construction received shipments from Comcorp Shipping, this option choice is wrong. 
 Truax Construction shipments did not consist of specially ordered shipments 
 This means it did not consist of building supplies.

(B) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. - Incorrect  
 
 No shipments were sent on Friday. 
 This answer choice is totally wrong.

(C) None of the shipments sent by Comcorp to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered. - Correct  
 
 This answer choice is correct because Truax Construction ordered shipments which did not consist of building supplies.  
 All the four shipments did not consist of building supplies 
 This insists that this option is a correct choice

(D) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on Thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.  
 
 The argument tells that four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week. 
 We do not know the day on which the shipments are sent. 
 Hence, we cannot conclude that none of Comcorp's shipments were sent on Thursday to Truax Construction.

(E) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on Thursday. - Incorrect 
 
 We have not been told the days on which shipments were sent. 
 Hence, we cannot conclude that all the shipments were sent on Thursday.

rak08 · Answer

KarishmaB   GMATNinja   egmat

I have a concern with this question's answer
C says None of the shipments sent by Comcorp to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.
However passage had only said "5 specially ordered (there could be more than 5 but here we picked these 5) were sent out on thursday,
each of THOSE specially ordered consists entirely of building supplies.

now there is a case that there were more than 5 specially ordered which weren't building supplies,
what we know is Truax construction was sent 4 shipments (could be any day other than friday)
which did NOT consist of building supplies (however it could be one of the "more than 5 specially ordered non-building supplies).

how is C "MUST" true.

ParamjitDasGMAT · Answer

Hi rak08 , I am happy to help. The key word that we have overlooked is " The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday..", which means that there were only 5 specially ordered shipments sent out last week, and ALL of them, consisting of business supplies, had been sent on Thursday. Had the definite restrictive article ( the ) not been there, then your interpretation would be valid - that there could have been more than 5 specially ordered shipments sent out, and that we only picked 5. Hope it helps. Let me know if anything is unclear

guddo · Answer

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday. The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

If the shipping clerk's statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

There were 5 specially ordered shipments last week, all sent on Thursday, and each one consisted entirely of building supplies. Also, 4 shipments were sent to Truax Construction, and none of those consisted entirely of building supplies. And no shipments consisting entirely of building supplies were sent on Friday.

(A) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered.

Not must be true. There could have been a regular shipment consisting entirely of building supplies that was not specially ordered.

(B) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

Not must be true. Truax shipments are not entirely building supplies, so they still could have been sent on Friday.

(C) None of the shipments sent by Comcorp to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.

This must be true.  Every specially ordered shipment consisted entirely of building supplies , but  none  of the Truax shipments consisted entirely of building supplies, so no Truax shipment could be specially ordered.

(D) None of Comcorp's shipments sent on Thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

Not must be true. Truax could have received shipments on Thursday, as long as those shipments were not entirely building supplies.

(E) All of Comcorp's shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on Thursday.

Not must be true. A shipment consisting entirely of building supplies could have been sent on a day other than Thursday, as long as it was not Friday.

Answer: (C)

guddo · Answer

Your concern comes from reading “the five specially ordered shipments” as “five of them,” but the phrasing normally means  there were exactly five specially ordered shipments total  last week. If there were more, the clerk would not say “the five.”

So  all  specially ordered shipments were (1) sent Thursday and (2) entirely building supplies. Since no Truax shipment was entirely building supplies,  no Truax shipment could have been specially ordered , so C must be true.

egmat · Answer

The Key Word You Missed:  "THE"

Look at the exact phrasing:

"THE five"  = complete set, exactly  5  total

This is different from:
- "Five specially ordered shipments..." (at least  5 , maybe more)
- "Five  of the  specially ordered shipments..." (definitely more than  5 )

Simple Example:

Imagine someone says:

Can this person have a 4th child who's in kindergarten?   No!   "THE three children I have" means exactly  3  kids total.

Now compare:

Here, a 4th child in kindergarten  could  exist - we're only told about  3  of possibly many.

Back to the Question:

"THE five specially ordered shipments" =  all specially ordered shipments = exactly 5

Your "phantom 6th specially ordered shipment"  cannot exist -  just like that 4th child can't exist in the first example.

Why C MUST Be True:

Here's the airtight logic chain:

Step 1:  Total specially ordered shipments last week = exactly  5  (no 6th, 7th, etc.)
 Step 2:  All  5  specially ordered = building supplies
 Step 3:  Truax received  4  shipments,  NONE  were building supplies
 Step 4:  If Truax got zero building supplies, and ALL specially ordered ARE building supplies → Truax got zero specially ordered

Answer: C

Hope this helps!

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies

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Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies

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