GRE Argument Essay Samples

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Argument:
The following appeared in a memorandum written by the vice president of Nature’s Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products.

“Previous experience has shown that our stores are most profitable in areas where residents are highly concerned with leading healthy lives. We should therefore build our next new store in Plainsville, which has many such residents. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club, which nearly closed five years ago due to lack of business, has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. We can even anticipate a new generation of customers: Plainsville’s schoolchildren are required to participate in a ‘fitness for life’ program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age.”

Essay
In the argument, the vice president of Nature’s Way is very speculative about the prospects for business expansion. The decision of building the new store in Plainsville has been come up to with a through study of the habits of the residents of Plainsville. Thus the vise president seems to be very sure of good business in the area. Since it has been experienced earlier that the health related products are sold more where people are conscious of their health, it is considered that the same effect will be seen in Plainsville as well.

It has been discussed in the argument how the vice president thinks that the residents of Plainsville are concerned with leading a healthy life. He says that there has been an all time high in the sale of running shoes and exercise clothing. Thus it is assumed that people have started taking care of their health and are involved in physical exercise. The same assumption is made when the vice president mentions that the membership in the health clubs has risen than before. The argument also mentions that the future generation, or the school children are being trained at an early age for having regular exercise so that they incorporate the same in their lives. Thus it is assumed that in future the store will continue to do good business and thus maintain its profits.

Since previous experience shows that opening the stores in places that show a growing awareness towards healthy living has proved profitable, the same is assumed for Plainsville. The given argument is derived directly from the trend followed previously in the past. The only basis of the statement mentioned is thus the events that have occurred in the past. However, what was true for the past may not be true in the present. Since there can be different conditions at different places, the same result cannot be expected.

For example, it is likely that there are already a number of such stores in Plainsville. There could be a number of other companies also which may have opened their stores in Plainsville resulting in mushrooming of health products stores all over the place. In such a situation there is possibility of saturation in the market. Thus there could be more goods, or supply of such products than the actual demand for them. In such a case, the given argument does not hold good and can be rejected.

Similarly, the vice president also mentions that the new generation of costumers, or the school children are being trained for regular exercise. However, it would be incorrect to judge the habits of the coming generation in advance. Since school children are susceptible to changing trends and technology, they could end up in a routine where they hardly get any time for exercise. Thus the sale of health goods could suffer in case people become too busy in their lives. Moreover, it is possible that in pursuit of career options, the new generation leaves Plainsville and migrates to other places. Similarly there could be immigration of other people in Plainsville which would change the whole composition of residents about whom the vice president is talking.

It is evident that the given argument may not hold good in certain situations. It is therefore not a statement that can be completely relied upon. Considering the above situations, it can be said that the argument does not remain true and valid in every situation and should take into consideration the change in time as well as the composition of residents. 

GRE Argument Essay Samples

GRE Argument Essay 1 | GRE Argument Essay 2 | GRE Argument Essay 3 |GRE Argument Essay 4 | GRE Argument Essay 5|GRE Argument Essay 6 | GRE Argument Essay 7 | GRE Argument Essay 8 |GRE Argument Essay 9 | GRE Argument Essay 10