CR boldface (Source GMAT Prep)

[boros2203]

City Official: At City Hospital, uninsured patients tend to have shorter stays and fewer procedures performed than do insured patients, even though insured patients, on average, have slightly less serious medical problems at the time of admission to the hospital than uninsured patients have. Critics of the hospital have concluded that the uninsured patients are not receiving proper medical care. However, this conclusion is almost certainly false. Careful investigation has recently shown two things: insured patients have much longer stays in the hospital than necessary, and they tend to have more procedures performed than are medically necessary.

In the city official’s argument, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?

* The first states the conclusion of the city official’s argument; the second provides support for that conclusion.
* The first is used to support the conclusion of the city official’s argument; the second states that conclusion.
* The first was used to support the conclusion drawn by hospital critics; the second states the position that the city official’s argument opposes.
* The first was used to support the conclusion drawn by hospital critics; the second provides support for the conclusion of the city official’s argument.
* The first states the position that the city official’s argument opposes; the second states the conclusion of the city official’s argument.


Have one doubt .OA posted is E but need to know one thing isn't the second boldface a counter premise rather than conclusion ??

[agha79]

Actually I am confused on this one as well. I chose "C" for an answer. My interpretation is first bold face is the conclusion and second bold face is opposing that conclusion.

[rajkapoor]

Since a statement is being made by city official, anything that the official mentions about what other people say ,cannot be be considered as the conclusion of the argument..

Even in normal life , you say 'My friend said/thought such and such.'
You always tend to conclude by saying something as "and i agree with him" or "however,i dont agree with him'. - this is your conclusion, the conclusion of your argument..So, just stating what your friend said, doesn't make an argument,rather it describes your friend's position on certain issue.You decide either to agree to that position or go against it or just have a neutral reaction to it.

going back to the original argument, the first bold-face statement is similiar in structure to what your friend is saying/ stating.
just because the second bold-face starts 'however , . Rather, it is simiiar in structure to your reaction to your friend's statement.

[RonPurewal]

City Official: At City Hospital, uninsured patients tend to have shorter stays and fewer procedures performed than do insured patients, even though insured patients, on average, have slightly less serious medical problems at the time of admission to the hospital than uninsured patients have. Critics of the hospital have concluded that the uninsured patients are mot receiving proper medical care. However, this conclusion is almost certainly false. Careful investigation has recently shown two things: insured patients have much longer stays in the hospital than necessary, and they tend to have more procedures performed than are medically necessary.

In the city official’s argument, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?

* The first states the conclusion of the city official’s argument; the second provides support for that conclusion.
* The first is used to support the conclusion of the city official’s argument; the second states that conclusion.
* The first was used to support the conclusion drawn by hospital critics; the second states the position that the city official’s argument opposes.
* The first was used to support the conclusion drawn by hospital critics; the second provides support for the conclusion of the city official’s argument.
* The first states the position that the city official’s argument opposes; the second states the conclusion of the city official’s argument.


Have one doubt .OA posted is E but need to know one thing isn't the second boldface a counter premise rather than conclusion ??

no, the second boldface is definitely the main conclusion.

as one of the previous posters noted, the opposing argument is introduced with "critics have said that...".
if the argument quotes someone else in its introduction, it is extremely likely that the whole purpose of the argument is to take down that person's quote, or to rebut that person's argument.
that's exactly what happened here: the argument states what the critics have said, and then the argument's main conclusion exists solely to contradict what the critics said.

[shans.bgp]

I got the correct answer by elimination. But what sort of statement is this - "the uninsured patients are most receiving proper medical care"
Is this correct grammatically?

[RonPurewal]

I got the correct answer by elimination. But what sort of statement is this - "the uninsured patients are most receiving proper medical care"
Is this correct grammatically?

the original poster wrote "mot" there. it should be "not".

i edited the original post. (i didn't even notice the typo before; the context was so strong that my brain just read the word correctly as "not", even though it wasn't typed that way.)