hard · Gre Verbal

A software firm claims that its new automated code-review tool improves product quality, citing a forty-percent drop in reported bugs after adoption. [[The firm treats this drop as proof that the tool catches errors human reviewers missed.]] [[An alternative reading is available: the same quarter saw the firm shift most of its work to a mature, well-documented codebase that historically generates far fewer bugs.]] Until the effect of that shift is isolated, the tool's contribution to the improvement remains unproven. In the argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles? (A) The first is a causal claim the argument questions; the second introduces an alternative cause that, if operative, would render the first unsupported. (B) The first is the argument's own main conclusion; the second is a piece of evidence the argument puts forward in support of that conclusion. (C) The first is an alternative explanation that the argument itself clearly prefers; the second is the rival explanation that the software firm endorses and actively defends. (D) The first is a piece of evidence the argument accepts as fully established; the second is the conclusion that the argument then draws directly from that accepted evidence. (E) The first is a premise that the argument wholeheartedly endorses; the second is a further premise that the argument offers specifically in order to reinforce the first.

1. The first is a causal claim the argument questions; the second introduces an alternative cause that, if operative, would render the first unsupported.
2. The first is the argument's own main conclusion; the second is a piece of evidence the argument puts forward in support of that conclusion.
3. The first is an alternative explanation that the argument itself clearly prefers; the second is the rival explanation that the software firm endorses and actively defends.
4. The first is a piece of evidence the argument accepts as fully established; the second is the conclusion that the argument then draws directly from that accepted evidence.
5. The first is a premise that the argument wholeheartedly endorses; the second is a further premise that the argument offers specifically in order to reinforce the first.

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