Although the earliest surviving Greek inscriptions

Question

Although the earliest surviving Greek inscriptions written in an alphabet date from the eighth century B.C., a strong case can be made that the Greeks actually adopted alphabetic writing at least two centuries earlier. Significantly,  the text of these earliest surviving Greek inscriptions sometimes runs from right to left and sometimes from left to right . Now, the Greeks learned alphabetic writing from the Phoenicians, and in the process  they would surely have adopted whatever convention the Phoenicians were then using with respect to the direction of writing.  Originally, Phoenicians writing ran in either direction, but by the eighth century B.C. it had been consistently written from right to left for about two centuries.

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

(A) The first provides evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.

(B) The first provides evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second presents an assumption on which that argument relies.

(C) The first is an assumption that the argument concludes is unjustified; the second presents part of the grounds for that conclusion.

(D) The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.

(E) The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is a judgment that is introduced in order to call into question the relevance of that evidence.

I chose E why the hell is B?? Pls explain in details thank yoiu

theforrestgump · Accepted Answer

Can you share the source of this question?

I bolded part questions you should generally adopt a stratergy that is similar to Method of Reasoning type questions...
You must remember that
1. your anser choice should be relevant to the infomation given to you in the stimulus
2. Any answer choice that describes information or a situation that does not occour in the stimulus is incorrect.
3. In bolded phrase questions, the answer choices should structurally play the same part that they do in the argument.

Wrong answers include:
1. New Information answers.
2. Half right, half wrong.
3. Exaggerated answers.
4. The opposite answer.
5. Reverse Answer.
(N-HERO)

So keeping these rules in view, lets go the question...

your first step from the argument would be to identify the conclusion...which is...
"a strong case can be made that the Greeks actually adopted alphabetic writing at least two centuries earlier"

now the first bolded phrase...
Significantly, the text of these earliest surviving Greek inscriptions sometimes runs from right to left and sometimes from left to right.
is an evidence that the author is using to support his claim(the conclusion)

the second bolded phrase....
they would surely have adopted whatever convention the Phoenicians were then using with respect to the direction of writing.
the style of this phrase tells us that this is something of an assumption that the author is making, he has not presented any evidence to support this phrase.- the words "would have" are a tip off..

Now, that you have the structure of the two parts understood...lets see if we can find a similar structure in the answer choices...

(A)The first provides evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.
As you can notice the first part agrees with our reasoning and not the second part - Half right, half wrong error

(B)The first provides evidence in support of the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second presents an assumption on which that argument relies.
This is in complete agreement with our structure that we observed. - Answer
(C)The first is an assumption that the argument concludes is unjustified; the second presents part of the grounds for that conclusion.
Both parts are wrong.
(D)The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is that position.
Half right, half wrong error

(E)The first is evidence that forms the basis for an objection to the position that the argument seeks to establish; the second is a judgment that is introduced in order to call into question the relevance of that evidence.
This is again a half right - half wrong answer...the second phrase is not a judgement, it too exaggerated/strong a term. The author has not judged anything here(he did not state anything is right or wrong).

Hope this helped...

Dreaming · Answer

God...this took me 3 minutes 30 sec

....but I got the right answer (B)......really liked TheForrestGump's explanation....kudos!

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

let us read the paragraph provided -

the first sentence - "although the earliest surviving ....,   a strong case can be made that the Greeks actually adopted alphabetic writing at least two centuries earlier . " - talks about the author's opinion.

In fact, the highlighted portion serves as the main  conclusion  of the argument.

Let us read the rest of the paragraph. The next sentence states a fact.

the next clause (3rd sentence) - " Now the Greeks learned alphabetic writing from the Phoenicians " - again states a fact.

"and in the process   they would surely have adopted whatever convention the Phoenicians were then using with respect to the direction of writing.  " - this is a judgment used by the author.

the next sentence - sentence 4 - states a fact.

We can clearly see that sentences 2,3, and 4  support  the author's main conclusion stated in sentence 1.

With this in mind, let us attempt the answer options -

A - the first part of the answer option is correct.
However, the second boldface is not the main conclusion of the argument. The second boldface is an opinion stated by the author to support the main conclusion in sentence 1.

Moreover, if you read the answer option carefully, it states that the first boldface - " the text of these earliest surviving Greek inscriptions sometimes runs from right to left and sometimes from left to right. "
  SUPPORTS   the second boldface - " they would surely have adopted whatever convention the Phoenicians were then using with respect to the direction of writing. "
this does not make any logical sense.

B -  Correct Answer. 
this answer option basically states that both the boldfaced portions support the argument's main conclusion.

C - Incorrect.
The author does NOT say that the first boldface is unjustified. The first boldface states a FACT.

the second boldface does not go against the first boldface. It does not say that the first boldface is unjustified.

D - the passage reports only ONE position. Furthermore, the first boldface supports the main conclusion.
the second boldface is not the main position of the argument.

E - the first boldface supports the main position. It is not used to serve as an objection.
the second does not question the first boldface.

VKat · Answer

Please explain, why option e is wrong?

sayantanc2k · Answer

The post by CrackVerbalGMAT already explains the argument well (including your query).

Please clarify which part do you not agree / understand in the explanation.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Although the earliest surviving Greek inscriptions

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Although the earliest surviving Greek inscriptions

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards