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A prominent investor who holds a large stake in the Burton Tool company has recently claimed that the company is mismanaged, citing as evidence the company's failure to slow production in response to a recent rise in its inventory of finished products. It is doubtful whether an investor's sniping at management can ever be anything other than counterproductive, but in this case it is clearly not justified. It is true that an increased inventory of finished products often indicates that production is outstripping demand, but in Burton's case it indicates no such thing. Rather, the increase in inventory is entirely attributable to products that have already been assigned to orders received from customers.
In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| "A prominent investor who holds a large stake in the Burton Tool company has recently claimed that" |
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| (Boldface 1) "the company is mismanaged" |
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| "citing as evidence the company's failure to slow production in response to a recent rise in its inventory of finished products" |
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| "It is doubtful whether an investor's sniping at management can ever be anything other than counterproductive, but" |
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| (Boldface 2) "in this case it is clearly not justified" |
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| "It is true that an increased inventory of finished products often indicates that production is outstripping demand, but in Burton's case it indicates no such thing" |
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| "Rather, the increase in inventory is entirely attributable to products that have already been assigned to orders received from customers" |
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The author is rejecting an investor's criticism by providing alternative evidence. The flow: Investor claims mismanagement → Author disagrees → Author explains why the investor's evidence doesn't support his conclusion.
Main Conclusion: The investor's claim that Burton Tool is mismanaged is not justified.
Boldface 1:
- Function: This is the investor's main accusation against Burton Tool
- Direction: Opposite direction - this opposes the author's ultimate position since the author argues this claim is unjustified
Boldface 2:
- Function: This is the author's main conclusion rejecting the investor's criticism
- Direction: Same direction - this directly supports the author's ultimate position
Boldface 1:
- Structural Role: A claim that the author argues against (opposing position)
- Predicted Answer Patterns: "a claim that the argument disputes" or "a position that the author argues is incorrect"
Boldface 2:
- Structural Role: The main conclusion of the author's argument
- Predicted Answer Patterns: "the conclusion of the argument" or "the author's main claim"