What does the boldface say

[poonamchiK]

During the past year, Pro-Tect Insurance Company's total payout on car-theft claims has been larger than the company can afford to sustain. Pro-Tect cannot reduce the number of car-theft policies it carries, so it cannot protect itself against continued large payouts that way. Therefore, Pro-Tect has decided to offer a discount to holders of car-theft policies whose cars have antitheft devices. Many policyholders will respond to the discount by installing such devices, since the amount of the discount will within two years typically more than cover the cost of installation. Thus, because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts.In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

(A) The first and the second are both evidence offered by the argument as support for its main conclusion.

(B) The first presents a problem a response to which the argument assesses; the second is the judgment reached by that assessment.

(C) The first is the position the argument seeks to establish; the second is a judgment the argument uses to support that position.

(D) The first is a development that the argument seeks to explain; the second is a prediction the argument makes in support of the explanation it offers.

(E) The first presents a development whose likely outcome is at issue in the argument; the second is a judgment the argument uses in support of its conclusion about that outcome.

I got this one wrong. pls help me with the explanation.
OA is B. (highlight)

I chose a D.

[jnelson0612]

Tell us more. How did you characterize the two boldface sentences? Also, which answers were you able to eliminate?

[poonamchiK]

Tell us more. How did you characterize the two boldface sentences? Also, which answers were you able to eliminate?

Thank you Jamie for your reply. After reading several posts by instructors, I have found out that in boldface questions, one has to identify the Conclusion 1st. And 'a judgement' is a synonym to tht.

Hence our answer comes down to B and C. Since the 2nd BF has actually a "Because, THerefore" construction.

How do we go from there. Since the 1st BF may also work as establising a position - C? How do we identify the 'establish the position questions'?

Pls help clearify.
P

[RonPurewal]

Hence our answer comes down to B and C.

well, if you're looking for a way to eliminate choice (c), you can just look at the first thing that it says -- "the first is the position that the argument is trying to establish". this means the main conclusion of the argument.

the first boldface is followed immediately by "therefore, xxxxx", so we know at once that it is not the main conclusion of the argument (since it's being used to justify something else).

[poonamchiK]

Thx a ton Ron,
I will remember this one. Its grt.
:-)

Ur helping shape up a person's calibre. Its a wonderful thing to do.

Thx again for being so prompt.

Regards
Poonam
(Singapore)

[jnelson0612]

Thanks Ron!

[jp.jprasanna]

Hi Jamie - Can you please help me eliminate choices D and E ?

to confirm, the portion "Thus, because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts" isn't the main conclusion right.

The main conclusion is "Therefore, Pro-Tect has decided to offer
a discount to holders of car-theft policies whose cars have antitheft devices." Correct?

I used the "THEREFORE" test and the 2nd bold clearly supports the aforementioned sentence. This makes elimination of D and E more difficult.

Cheers

[jlucero]

(1)Pro-Tect can't reduce it's # of policies or payout theft claims
THEREFORE
(2)Pro-Tect plan will reduce it's annual payouts

or

(2)Pro-Tect plan will reduce it's annual payouts
THEREFORE
(1)Pro-Tect can't reduce it's # of policies or payout theft claims

Neither one of these really work because it isn't a claim that supports the conclusion, but a consideration for an alternate plan (offering a discount) that supports the conclusion. Therefore test only works for premises & conclusions, not background information & conclusions.

Analogy:
I knew I didn't need to study for my Math test. So instead I studied English. Therefore, I did better on the English test.

I didn't do better on the English test because I didn't need to study for my Math test. I did better on my English test because I studied for the test, but I was able to do that because I didn't need to study for Math.

[peter_griffin]

Hi ,
I am still unable to choose from B and D . I have eliminated a , c , e
Here is my thought process
(B) The first presents a problem a response to which the argument assesses; the second is the judgment reached by that assessment.

Okay, yes it does present a problem , and yes the argument asseses the responsed to it . and yes we come to a judgement(final conclusion) using this assesment

(D) The first is a development that the argument seeks to explain; the second is a prediction the argument makes in support of the explanation it offers.

Okay , there is a "development" ( not sure if this is the right word but ok accepted) , yes the argument explains this "development" . Then it makes a prediction( again i would like something more affirmative like judgement , but prediction is OK) based on the explanation.

While i could clearly eliminate A , C , E by just dissecting the answers , i am unable to do it here.
Staff help will be highly appreciated

[RonPurewal]

* there's no "development" in the first boldface.
"development" would mean, basically, "here's what happened" or "here's how things turned out". the first boldface describes nothing of the sort; it's more like, "here's a theoretical course of action that, in reality, won't work."

* the argument doesn't "seek to explain" the first boldface at all.
quite the opposite, in fact -- the first boldface is left completely unexplained. i.e., there's no attempt to explain why "Pro-Tect cannot reduce the number of car-theft policies it carries"; this fact is just stated as gospel.

* because there's no "explanation" of the first boldface, choice d's description of the second boldface doesn't mean anything.

[peter_griffin]

Thanks ron ! Crystal clear now

[tim]

:)

[nastenk]

Dear Instructors,

can you please clarify on where the argument " assesses the response to a problem" that is 1st part of choice B.

Can you please kindly mention why E is wrong - it is not obvious to me. Thanks much!

[jlucero]

Dear Instructors,

can you please clarify on where the argument " assesses the response to a problem" that is 1st part of choice B.

The problem is that PIC can't reduce the number of policies that they have (which could potentially reduce the number of payouts they give out). The response to this problem is to find a different way to reduce their payouts (by incentivizing policy holders to install anti-theft devices).

Can you please kindly mention why E is wrong - it is not obvious to me. Thanks much!

E- The first presents a development whose likely outcome is at issue in the argument;

The development (can't reduce the number of policies) has an outcome (can't protect ourselves against large payouts), but there isn't an issue about this outcome. If there were, another opinion would have to come in saying "I think we CAN protect ourselves against large payouts, even if we can't reduce the number of policies".

the second is a judgment the argument uses in support of its conclusion about that outcome.

The second isn't a judgment that is used to support a conclusion. It is the main conclusion- the plan will reduce payouts.

[RichaChampion]

Hence our answer comes down to B and C.

well, if you're looking for a way to eliminate choice (c), you can just look at the first thing that it says -- "the first is the position that the argument is trying to establish". this means the main conclusion of the argument.

the first boldface is followed immediately by "therefore, xxxxx", so we know at once that it is not the main conclusion of the argument (since it's being used to justify something else).

You are absolutely right here, but I have seen that even for intermediate conclusions(which is not the main conclusion) they use the word position. in particular, the conclusion of the argument is the position that the argument as a whole takes.


Conclusions →

So it cannot protect itself against continued large payouts that way.
Therefore, Pro-Tect has decided to offer a discount to holders of car-theft policies whose cars have antitheft devices.
Thus, because cars with antitheft devices are rarely stolen, Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts.

This question has lots of conclusion/positions in which only one is the main conclusion/final position that the author seeks to establish.
Main conclusion: Thus, ______Pro-Tect's plan is likely to reduce its annual payouts.

P.S. i am sharing my understanding and viewpoint.