Logical Reasoning

PT123 · S2 · Q1 Economist: Every business strives to

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Economist: Every business strives to increase its productivity, for this increases profits for the owners and the likelihood that the business will survive.

Conclusion

But not all efforts to increase productivity are beneficial to the business as a whole. rephrase: Some efforts to increase productivity are not beneficial to the business as a whole.

Evidence

Often, attempts to increase productivity decrease the number of employees, which clearly harms the dismissed employees as well as the sense of security of the retained employees.

Evaluate

We know that on Main Conclusion, the #1 pattern for where to find the conclusion is after a Pivot word like "but / yet / however".

Typically, this is taking the form of a Rebuttal. In this case, the author isn't exactly rebutting someone's claim, but the first sentence does talk about what other people are doing. They are striving for productivity, and she is pushing back with a reminder that trying to increase productivity can sometimes be bad.

Like 90% of Main Conclusion arguments, this is an upside-down argument. The Conclusion appears first and then the Support follows.

Goal

We just want the best meaning match for the 2nd sentence.

1.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the economist's argument?

  1. If an action taken to

    Assumption

    This is an assumption of the argument. We shouldn't be picking something unstated, if the argument has an explicit conclusion.

    9% picked this

  2. Correct

    Some measures taken by a

    Why this is right

    This best paraphrases the argument’s main conclusion. They are doing a classic "negative to positive" translation here. When we see Not all A's are B We always translate that into Some A's are not B

    Skill tested: Main Conclusion · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    84% picked this

  3. Only if the employees of

    Unsupported

    This point is not made in the argument. We shouldn't pick any unmentioned idea, if there was an explicit conclusion (which there is, 98% of the time).

    1% picked this

  4. There is no business that

    Opposing Point

    This is part of the argument’s opposing point.

    1% picked this

  5. Decreasing the number of employees

    Evidence

    This is a premise that supports the argument’s main conclusion. We want to be very suspicious of ourselves when we pick the final claim, on a Main Conclusion question, since the conclusion is only the final claim on Main Conclusion about 10% of the time. They know students default into assuming the Conclusion is the last claim, so this is almost aways a trap answer.

    4% picked this

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