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A minority but influential investor in Quell has recently claimed that the company's stock is undervalued, citing as evidence the announced plan of Quell's CEO, who is the majority shareholder, to sell the company within a short period of time. According to the minority investor, the CEO is permitting or even encouraging an undervalued stock price so that he may get the company sold and liquidate his stake in the company. By accusing the CEO of having personal motives allow the stock price to become distorted, however, the minority investor is guilty of the precise accusation that he himself is making. This investor is known for using his influence to attempt to sway public opinion and meddle in otherwise well-calibrated deals in order to drive up share prices for his personal financial benefit.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

The ﬁrst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides reasoning to undermine the support for the position being opposed.

The ﬁrst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second is reasoning that has been used to support the position being opposed.

The ﬁrst states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second states the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

The ﬁrst is reasoning that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second provides information to undermine the force of that reasoning.

The ﬁrst is reasoning that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second states the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

Review: Vocal Shareholders

Explanation

Reading the question: the boldfaced text immediately gives away how this question will work. We don't need to analyze the argument; we need only identify the logical role of each sentence.

Sentence

Starts With.../Includes...

Function

1st

"the company's stock is undervalued"

Opinion (bold), evidence

2nd

"According to the minority investor"

Elaboration

3rd

"the minority investor is guilty"

Contrary opinion

4th

"known for using his influence"

Evidence for 2nd opinion

Creating a filter: The first bold portion gives an opinion, and the second one gives a contrary opinion. The author of the argument believes the second opinion. That's our filter.

Applying the filter: we look for these results in the answer choices. Judging the answer choices just up to the semicolons, we keep (A) through (C) and we toss out (D) and (E); the first statement is a position, not reasoning. Looking at the latter half for choices (A) through (C), we target (C), the only one that identifies the second boldfaced portion as an opinion. To confirm this, we reconfirm that the last sentence of the paragraph is not an opinion. The phrase "this investor is known" highlights that sentence as mutually agreed upon and hence a fact. The correct answer is (C).

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