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Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Intermediate and Subsidiary Conclusions

To reduce long-term operational costs, urban municipal transit agencies are transitioning bus fleets to battery-electric vehicles. Although electric buses require higher upfront capital investment than conventional diesel buses, electric buses incur significantly lower per-mile maintenance and fuel expenses. Therefore, replacing diesel buses with electric models will generate substantial net financial savings over a ten-year operating lifecycle. Consequently, municipal transit authorities should prioritize immediate capital expenditure allocations for electric bus procurement.

In the argument above, the claim that replacing diesel buses with electric models will generate substantial net financial savings over a ten-year operating lifecycle plays which of the following roles?

  1. It serves as an intermediate conclusion that is supported by evidence regarding operational expenses and is used to justify the argument's main recommendation.Answer
  2. B
    It functions as the overall main conclusion of the argument for which all other statements serve as supporting evidence.
  3. C
    It is a basic factual premise offered to establish that electric buses have lower per-mile operational expenses than diesel buses.
  4. D
    It acts as a concession acknowledging the financial drawbacks associated with initial fleet transition costs.
  5. E
    It is an unstated assumption required to connect the premise about maintenance costs to the conclusion about capital allocation.

Answer

The statement functions as an intermediate conclusion that is supported by premise evidence regarding per-mile expenses and subsequently used to support the main recommendation regarding capital allocations.
The claim is introduced by the inference marker 'Therefore', indicating it is derived from the preceding comparison between upfront costs and operational savings. It is subsequently followed by 'Consequently', which introduces the final policy action. Thus, it receives support from a premise and provides support for the main conclusion, making it an intermediate conclusion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the premises and evidence in the passage.
The argument provides the premise that electric buses incur lower per-mile maintenance and fuel expenses, despite higher upfront capital costs.
Understanding the evidence base is required to determine what supports other statements.
2
Trace the logical relationship between the target claim and the surrounding claims.
The indicator word 'Therefore' introduces the target claim (net financial savings over ten years) as a deduction from the premise. The indicator word 'Consequently' then introduces the final policy recommendation based on those net financial savings.
Structural indicators reveal directionality of support between claims.
3
Classify the role of the target claim.
Because the claim is both supported by a premise and used as support for the main recommendation, it is an intermediate (subsidiary) conclusion.
An intermediate conclusion bridges foundational premises and the ultimate main conclusion.

Key Concept

Identifying Intermediate Conclusions
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Topics

Identifying Intermediate and Subsidiary Conclusions

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