Given that, recently, the founders of startup company Zeddifreddo have

Question

Given that, recently,  the founders of startup company Zeddifreddo have confirmed that they are in the late stages of discussion of an acquisition offer from another company , other potential acquirers of the company, who had suspected that Zeddifreddo's business performance was mostly hype and not a product of sound financials, have taken interest in making their own acquisition offers. They figure that, if Zeddifreddo's current potential acquirer has reached late stages of an acquisition discussion without having withdrawn its bid, that the acquirer must have had a chance to audit Zeddifreddo's financial position and has found it to be sound. Such reasoning might be hasty, however, since  potential acquirers of a startup have been known to overlook that company's financial soundness and favor the acquisition on other grounds, however ill-advised such a position may be.

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

A. The ﬁrst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second gives a reason for questioning that support.

B. The ﬁrst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second states a contrary conclusion that is the main conclusion of the argument.

C. The ﬁrst provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument; the second states that conclusion.

D. The ﬁrst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second gives the explanation that the argument seeks to establish.

E. The ﬁrst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second provides evidence in support of the explanation that the argument seeks to establish.

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tgsankar10 · Answer

Conclusion:  the acquirer must have had a chance to audit Zeddifreddo's financial position and has found it to be sound

1. Given that, recently,  the founders of startup company Zeddifreddo have confirmed that they are in the late stages of discussion of an acquisition offer from another company
  This statement can be considered as a fact or evidence

2.  however, since  potential acquirers of a startup have been known to overlook that company's financial soundness and favor the acquisition on other grounds, however ill-advised such a position may be. 
This statement explains that potential acquirers of a startup have been known to overlook something to arrive at a conclusion

Option Analysis:

A: Correct.  The first one is evidence that supports the other potential acquirers' conclusion. Second one questions the support mentioning the possibility of overlooking

B: NO. First one is evidence. But second one is not a conclusion. It is an explanation in contrast to the conclusion
C: NO. First one is evidence. But second one is not a conclusion.
D: NO. The argument does not seek to explain the fact that the discussion is in the later stage of acquisition rather the financials of the company
E: NO. Reasoning same as option D

captain0612 · Answer

IMO Choice A

Author's Main Conclusion ->   Jumping to a conclusion   that Zeddifreddo's financials are strong based on the evidence that the aquisition discussions are in the final stages   is Hasty

Bold face 1 -> Current situation which is used as eveidence to jump to   a conclusion   (which the author opposes)

Bold face 2 -> Reasoning provided to support   the main conclusion   (which opposes   a conclusion   drawn in the passage based on Bold face 1)

Question type - Bold faced

A. The ﬁrst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second gives a reason for questioning that support.   Correct

B. The ﬁrst describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second states a contrary conclusion that is the main conclusion of the argument.  First part of the bold face is correct but the second part isn't. Bold face 2 is not the main conclusion. It provides support to the main conclusion drawn by the author  Incorrect

C. The ﬁrst provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument; the second states that conclusion.  Bold face 1 provides support to an intremediate conclusion (not main conclusion). Second part is incorrect too same reason as above  Incorrect

D. The ﬁrst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second gives the explanation that the argument seeks to establish.  First part isn't correct because the argument isn't trying to establish that the company is in final stages of discussion  Incorrect

E. The ﬁrst describes the circumstance that the argument as a whole seeks to explain; the second provides evidence in support of the explanation that the argument seeks to establish.  First part isn't correct explained in D. Second part we could say that partly true, but the choice overall is  Incorrect

Legenddary1234 · Answer

IMO A

The argument discusses the reasoning and assumptions behind the interest of potential acquirers in the startup company Zeddifreddo following another company's advanced acquisition discussions. To analyze the roles of the boldfaced portions, let's break down the argument and the specific roles each boldfaced statement plays:

The first boldfaced statement ("other potential acquirers of the company, who had suspected that Zeddifreddo's business performance was mostly hype and not a product of sound financials, have taken interest in making their own acquisition offers") describes the actions and thoughts of other potential acquirers based on their observation of the ongoing acquisition talks. This serves as a situational backdrop or evidence that triggers the subsequent analysis and conclusions in the argument.

The second boldfaced statement ("potential acquirers of a startup have been known to overlook that company's financial soundness and favor the acquisition on other grounds, however ill-advised such a position may be") provides a reason to question the assumption or conclusion that other potential acquirers might be making based on the advanced stage of the acquisition talks. It suggests that just because the talks are in an advanced stage, it doesn't necessarily confirm the financial soundness of Zeddifreddo, as acquirers might have other motivations.

Given these roles:

The first statement serves as evidence that has led other potential acquirers to draw a conclusion (that the ongoing talks suggest financial soundness).
The second statement challenges the validity of this conclusion by suggesting that acquirers sometimes prioritize other factors over financial soundness.
Therefore, the correct choice is: A. The first describes evidence that has been taken as supporting a conclusion; the second gives a reason for questioning that support.

surya.nair · Answer

The intermediate conclusion is not the arguments' conclusion, it the conclusion from the other investors. Could that be taken as intermediate conclusion?

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Reading the question: we're in boldfaced territory, so we confirm from the question that our task here is to identify the logical roles played by the various sentences in the prompt.

Sentence

Starts With.../Includes...

Function

1st

"Given that the founders...have confirmed"

Supports view of other potential acquirers

1st

"who had suspected that..."

View of other potential acquirers

2nd

"they figure that..."

Supports view of other potential acquirers

3rd

"Such reasoning might be hasty, however,"

Contrary view

3rd

"since potential acquirers...have been known"

Supports contrary view

Creating a filter: opinion-charged words help parse the prompt into two views. Boldfaced portion #1 supports opinion #1, and boldfaced #2 supports opinion #2, which is a contrary opinion.

Applying the filter: (B) and (C) call sentence #2 a conclusion, so they are out. Choice (D) is out; the argument as a whole is not seeking to explain the fact that Zeddifreddo is in the late states of the acquisition, but rather what the late stage says about its financials. (E) is out for the same reason. We go back to confirm (A). The first sentence has indeed been taken as support that the company has sound financials, and the second sentence gives a reason to question it.

The correct answer is (A).

Given that, recently, the founders of startup company Zeddifreddo have

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Given that, recently, the founders of startup company Zeddifreddo have

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