The survival of the publishing industry depends upon the existence of

Question

The survival of the publishing industry depends upon the existence of a public who will buy the printed word in the form of newspapers, books and magazines.  Over the past several years, however, the advance of electronic media, particularly CD-ROMs, online computer services, and the Internet, has made information available to the public electronically without the need for printed materials . As the availability of electronic media increases and as it is more easily accessible, the public has less need for printed materials.  So the publishing industry is threatened by the advance of the computer information age.

The two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

(A) The first is the part of evidence that the argument includes, the second is the conclusion that can be drawn only from the first.

(B) The first is the second-premise that the argument includes; the second is the conclusion that is reasonably drawn form this passage.

(C) The first is the second-premise that the argument includes, the second is the inference that must be drawn from this argument.

(D) The first is the fact that must be true, the second is the inference that can be correctly drawn from this argument.

(E) The first is the part of premise that the argument depends on; the second is the conclusion that is incorrectly drawn from this argument

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear longranger25 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I don't know the source of this question, but I don't have the highest opinion of this question. It is not very GMAT-like. Here are some better BF Structure CR questions to practice: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-crit ... questions/ For this question: BF sentence #1 = something purely factual, i.e. evidence; this evidence supports the conclusion BF sentence #2 = the conclusion, which logically follows from the information given The first part of (A) looks good, because the first BF sentence is evidence, but the strange word " only " makes this choice completely illogical. If (A) had said: The first is the part of evidence that the argument includes, the second is the argument's conclusion . That would have been 100% correct, and very GMAT like. Sabotaging the answer with the word " only " is a sneaky trick that is particularly un-GMAT-like. The language in (B) & (C) is odd: the GMAT CR BF Structure questions typically do not use the word " premise ." I suspect this sentence was written by someone who knew a lot about formal logic but not a lot about the GMAT. Choice (E) is wrong simply because the conclusion logical follows from the rest of the argument. The language in (D) is simply atrocious: is this what the source considers the OA? The language " fact that must be true "---what does that mean? Some Deity has proclaimed that it must be true? That language is too extreme. Also, the second BF sentence is simply the conclusion, not an inference in the GMAT-sense of the word. If the writer of this question intended this to be the OA, then that writer knew absolutely nothing about the GMAT. In some web searches of the text of this question, I found it listed with other OAs, and I also found the same prompt with very different answer choices. It appears that originally, this was an LSAT question that some company semi-plagiarized and re-cast as a GMAT CR. The very best thing you could do for your GMAT preparation is to blot this question out of your mind. My friend, there are many companies in the GMAT prep market, and not all are of the same quality. Don't naively believe that a CR or SC or RC questions adheres to the high standards of the GMAT just because some company out there has the audacity to call it a GMAT practice question. Caveat emptor . The official GMAT questions are superb. Questions from MGMAT tend to be of very high quality, and I have been very impressed with many of the Veritas questions I have seen. Of course, I think Magoosh also has very good questions, but because I work for them, you may well question whether I am biased. I would say: read the reviews. Ask around. Notice what folks say in their testimonials. Trust the sources about which people rave consistently. Don't be naive about accepting anything as a worthwhile question. Low quality material will not prepare you for the GMAT. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

rhine29388 · Answer

for the first time i am unable to decipher any meaning from the answer options.It looks like it is copied from some Non - GMAT source and then made to look like Gmat level.Disappointed with this question

dina98 · Answer

felt B was better. D - "must be true" does not sound right

mvictor · Answer

oh wow...what a tough one...spent little over 2 minutes....
1 is definitely a fact that supports the belief, and 2 is definitely a belief.

E says second is conclusion incorrectly drawn from the argument - incorrect
C says the conclusion MUST be drawn - incorrect. it is a belief/opinion, not smth that we are forced to believe.
now...A/B/D basically all state that first one is a premise...
A - second one - conclusion that can be drawn only from the first - nope, we need the second premise... so one more out...moreover the second one is a belief rather than a conclusion.

between B and D:
wording of D seems better and in more accordance with the argument...

keats · Answer

I, NOT AT ALL, think of this question as worthy enough to be even close to GMAT-like question. I have NOT seen even a single official question that had made such a distinction in BF question as is made here.

A_Nishith · Answer

Analyzing the Boldface Portions 
 First Boldface Portion:  "The survival of the publishing industry depends upon the existence of a public who will buy the printed word in the form of newspapers, books and magazines."

This is a premise. It gives background information and sets up the situation by stating a condition necessary for the publishing industry's survival (a public willing to buy printed materials).

Second Boldface Portion:  "So the publishing industry is threatened by the advance of the computer information age."

This is the conclusion. It draws from the preceding information that electronic media is a threat to the traditional publishing industry.

Explanation of Options

(A) The first is the part of evidence that the argument includes, the second is the conclusion that can be drawn only from the first.

Incorrect. The second boldface (the conclusion) is drawn from the entire argument, not solely from the first boldface (which is just a premise).

(B) The first is the second-premise that the argument includes; the second is the conclusion that is reasonably drawn from this passage.

Correct.   The first boldface is a second premise in the argument, providing background. The second boldface is the conclusion that is logically drawn from the information provided.

(C) The first is the second-premise that the argument includes, the second is the inference that must be drawn from this argument.

Incorrect. While the first boldface is a premise, the second boldface is not an inference. It's the conclusion, not something that must be inferred implicitly.

(D) The first is the fact that must be true, the second is the inference that can be correctly drawn from this argument.

Incorrect. The first boldface is not a fact that "must" be true but a premise based on the assumption about the publishing industry. Moreover, the second boldface is the conclusion, not an inference.

(E) The first is the part of premise that the argument depends on; the second is the conclusion that is incorrectly drawn from this argument.

Incorrect. The second boldface is the conclusion, but there is no indication that it is incorrectly drawn. The argument suggests a valid connection between the premises and the conclusion.

Answer: B

The survival of the publishing industry depends upon the existence of

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The survival of the publishing industry depends upon the existence of

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