Verbal Lecture-07
BOLDFACED QUESTIONS:
(Focus on Argument Structure, rather than meaning)
In Boldfaced questions, usually two sentences in an argument are highlighted. And your skill of identifying the roles of both sentences in the argument as a whole is tested. As I said, always read the question statement first, before reading the argument. This will let you know which type of strategy should you apply while reading the argument. In such arguments, you should only focus on argument structure rather than meaning of each sentence. You need to develop a skill that while reading how the sentences flow in an argument. This skill is also tested in reading comprehension questions, which we’ll learn later on.
In such questions, identifying premises and conclusions is key. And secondly, discriminating facts from opinions is also another key. You should know what is evidence, what is explanation/description, and what is conclusion. As matter of the fact, conclusion is the king. You should aware about intermediate conclusion and main conclusion. And remember that main conclusion is the only conclusion that the argument seek to establish. From that main conclusion you can play with logic, and analyze relationship that the two boldfaced sentences have with the main conclusion. Sometimes the second boldfaced sentence or first boldfaced sentence is actually the main conclusion that the argument seek to establish. So be careful!
Let’s consider a simple argument:
It is generally believed that people who practice more questions score better on exam A. Yet, Mark, who practiced less than half as many problems as John did, scored higher on the exam A than John.
Two boldfaced portion plays what role in the argument?
Answer:
The first sentence is a established believe, while second sentence provides an example which is against that believe.
Similarly,
Last year, the US government spent $500B on enhancing employment which led to creation of 10M jobs. An average job in US saves the government $10K in social security benefits and provides $15K in taxes. Based on this, the government claims that the payback on the investment would be in less than 3 years.
Two boldfaced portion plays what role in the argument?
Answer:
The first statement is a fact that supports the conclusion of the argument, while the second statement is that conclusion.
Notice that you only need to understand the meaning of the argument, rather you need to focus only on the argument structure. It only ask you to understand the role played by the specific parts of the passage rather than the meaning and scope of the argument. Also we do not need to thing about assumptions. Only we need to see the structure of the argument and then analyze the roles played by the specific parts of the argument. That’s why I suggest my students that these questions are most easiest type of Critical/Logical reasoning questions.
The most important part of the boldfaced questions is the answer choice wordings. You have to pay close attention to words like “provides evidence”, “belief”, “finding that argument supports”, “findings that the argument disapprove”, “contradiction”, “prediction”, “alternate explanation”, “main conclusion”, “secondary/intermediate conclusion” etc. Each statement of boldfaced might play any of these roles in the argument. I’m writing again. Please pay attention to the relationship between each boldfaced sentence that you read and the conclusion of the argument. This will help you in accurately finding relationship between each of the boldfaced portion and the argument. As mentioned earlier, conclusion is the king; so focus of the argument is its conclusion. If a choice contains words like “First/second is a statement that the argument seek to establish”, this means that the conclusion. Whatever the argument seek to establish is the conclusion of the argument. That is the most important point in this topic.
These terms are of key importance, so let’s discuss these below:
Evidence:
An undisputed fact that is used to prove or disprove something in the argument.
Belief:
Anything that the author consider as true regardless of the actual truth.
Evidence vs Belief:
Evidence is a data-point that cannot be disputed and accepted as true. Whereas believe is something that only the author believe as true; in reality believe may or may not be true.
For instance,
“David fell sick due to overexposure to cold weather.”
This is the statement that the author believe as true. According to the author, the reason of David sickness is due to overexposure to cold weather. It is not a fact, but a believe, which might be wrong. Because in reality, David may have sick due to eating poor quality ice cream or something else etc. But for the author, the reason is only the overexposure to cold weather.
Similarly,
“Early vaccination prevents diseases”
This statement is also a believe that author consider to be true, but might be false in reality.
On other hand,
“Maria scored 760 on GMAT.”
This statement is a fact, that cannot call into question. It is true always. So this statement is an evidence, rather than believe.
Similarly,
“US employment rate has reduced by 2% over the first quarter of last year.”
This statement is also a fact that is not under dispute and is true. Thus this is an evidence.
All in all, a believe is an opinion which can be disputed, while an evidence is a fact which cannot be disputed. Words such as “hypothesis”, “opinion”, and “position” etc may be used in place of the word “belief”.
Contradiction:
It is the disagreement between two or more statements. e.g:
Batsman: We win this match because I scored double century in this match.
Bowler: We win this match because I took early wickets that kept the opponent under pressure throughout the innings.
These two statements contradicting each others.
Similarly,
Drug company: We destroyed the package as a precaution because the FDA representative stated that the drug was not safe for the eye, even though it was clear that the drug was safe for cancer patients.
FDA representative: The drug company did not provide sufficient information to access the safety of drug for any use.
FDA representative’s statement is contradictory to Drug company’s statement.
We cannot tell which side is telling the truth, but all we know for certain is that both of the statements are contradictory. Words such as “conflic”, “disagreement”, and “discrepancy” etc may be used in place of the word “contradictory”.
Prediction:
It’s something that the author think that it will happen in future. So prediction is all about future. Not every future information is prediction, but all prediction is about future.
Typically, the author also includes certain conditions in the argument that needs to be satisfy for the prediction to come true. For instance,
“If government will reduce tax rate, people will have more money to spend.”
Here, the prediction “people will have more money to spend” depends on the condition “If government will reduce tax rate”
Similarly,
“Koala bear will no longer be an endangered species provided the laws against hunting are strictly enforced.”
Here, the prediction “Koala bear will no longer be an endangered species” depends on the condition “laws against hunting are strictly enforced”.
Alternate reasoning:
In addition to main reasoning, the argument may have some alternate reasoning to support or disprove something. For instance,
“David got high fever due to cold weather. However, the tests reveal that the fever was caused by excessive eating ice cream of poor quality.”
Here, the alternation explanation “the tests reveal that the fever was caused by excessive eating ice cream of poor quality” is provided.
Lastly, let’s discuss a difficult question scenario:
There are those who complain that municipal libraries are outdated and unnecessary. These same people object to the tax dollars spent funding municipal libraries. However, these people are missing out on a simple pleasure: reading a great book. Taken this way, libraries are truly wonderful resources worthy of public funding.
The two boldface portions play which of the following roles?
(A) The first is a generalization accepted by the author as true; the second is a consequence that follows from the truth of that generalization.
(B) The first is evidence that supports one of two contradictory points of view; the second is the second point of view.
(C) The first is a commonly held point of view; the second is support for that point of view.
(D) The first is one of two contradictory points of view; the second is the other point of view.
(E) The first concedes a consideration that weighs against the viewpoint of the author; the second is that viewpoint.
Answer Explanation:
Remember that in Boldfaced questions, POE is your best friend. So let’s take help from POE. But before that, we need to write the structure of the argument as below:
Self-Analysis:
Firstly a statement is mentioned that go against the conclusion of the argument “libraries are truly wonderful resources worthy of public funding”. While second statement is the conclusion of the argument. And the relationship between the two boldfaced portion and the conclusion is “Contradictory” one.
Choice A: First statement is truly generalization that author do not call into question. But here problem is with the second statement, which says the second statement is deducted from the first. It is wrong. Both statement are contradictory, so never support each other.
Choice B: Again, first is truly an evidence, that cannot be challenged. But problem is that this states that first statement supports one of the two contradictory point of views. But actually first statement is the one of the two contradictory point of views. While second statement is the other view, which is fine. So this choice is incorrect. First statement is actually itself first point of view, rather than supporting a point of view.
Choice C: This can also easily be eliminated as similar to choice A. Second statement is not support for the first point of view.
Choice D: This choice exactly portrays what we self-analyzed. The two statements are contradictory statements that represents two opposite point of views. Hence this choice is looks to be correct. But let’s also check other choice.
Choice E: It also similar to our version derived from self-analysis. So let’s go deeper in choice D and E.
The author wants to spend public money on libraries, and first boldfaced statement expresses the exact opposite of that. So choice D exactly portrays this and , hence, D is the correct answer. E is not much convincing than D, because the first statement is not concedes a consideration, rather it gives a point of view which the author completely disagree.