The word in bold, in ‘We shall often have occasion
to consider opportunity costs, in analyzing and deciding various operations issues’, is being used to express:
Opportunity Cost
This phenomenon goes by the name of ‘opportunity
cost,’ since by not investing in more equipment and
a more rigid production flow, the company is forgoing the opportunity to earn increased profits. These
costs are every bite as real as the payment of dollars
out-of-pocket.
This notion _______ opportunity cost can be reinforced _________ a famous saying ______ Benjamin
Franklin, no slouch himself _________ operations
management. To make the point, however, we must
make a brief excursion into logic. One truth of logic is
the validity of the so-called contrapositive, which says
simply that if the statement “If A, then B” is true, then
it is also true that “If not B, then not A.” That is, of every
time A occurs B follows, then we can be sure that if B
does not occur, then A did not occur as well. Enough
logic then, and back to Ben Franklin.
One of his Poor Richard sayings is that “A penny saved
is a penny earned.” We have all recognized the truth of
that since childhood, but I assert that by this saying
Ben showed us he knows everything about opportunity cost. After all, what is the contrapositive of “A
penny not earned is a penny not saved (i.e., a penny
sent). All we are saying by this notion of opportunity
cost is that “a penny not earned (an opportunity forgone) is a penny spent.” We shall often have occasion
to consider opportunity costs, in analyzing and deciding various operations issues.
SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management. 5th
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Opportunity Cost
This phenomenon goes by the name of ‘opportunity cost,’ since by not investing in more equipment and a more rigid production flow, the company is forgoing the opportunity to earn increased profits. These costs are every bite as real as the payment of dollars out-of-pocket.
This notion _______ opportunity cost can be reinforced _________ a famous saying ______ Benjamin Franklin, no slouch himself _________ operations management. To make the point, however, we must make a brief excursion into logic. One truth of logic is the validity of the so-called contrapositive, which says simply that if the statement “If A, then B” is true, then it is also true that “If not B, then not A.” That is, of every time A occurs B follows, then we can be sure that if B does not occur, then A did not occur as well. Enough logic then, and back to Ben Franklin.
One of his Poor Richard sayings is that “A penny saved is a penny earned.” We have all recognized the truth of that since childhood, but I assert that by this saying Ben showed us he knows everything about opportunity cost. After all, what is the contrapositive of “A penny not earned is a penny not saved (i.e., a penny sent). All we are saying by this notion of opportunity cost is that “a penny not earned (an opportunity forgone) is a penny spent.” We shall often have occasion to consider opportunity costs, in analyzing and deciding various operations issues.
SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management. 5th
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Gabarito comentado
Resposta: Alternativa C — suggestion
Tema central: uso de verbos modais (aqui shall) para expressar modalidade: futuro, obrigação, sugestão, possibilidade, permissão etc. Em provas, a chave é interpretar o sentido contextual do modal, não só sua forma.
Resumo teórico (sintético): modais como shall, will, may, must marcam diferentes atitudes do falante: previsão/expectativa, obrigação, permissão ou aconselhamento. Em inglês formal, shall com a 1ª pessoa pode indicar simples futuro ou uma previsão/expectativa do autor (ver gramáticas de referência como Cambridge/Oxford).
Por que a alternativa C está correta: em "We shall often have occasion to consider..." o autor indica que, ao longo do texto, será frequente (ou será necessário) considerar custos de oportunidade. Esse uso tem função comunicativa de orientar/indicar ao leitor o que esperar — isto é, uma sugestão/indicação sobre o conteúdo e a prática a seguir. Substituindo mentalmente por "we will often need to consider" percebe-se a mesma ideia: expectativa/indicação dirigida ao leitor — equivalente a sugerir que esse tema reaparecerá.
Análise das alternativas incorretas:
A — an advice: "Advice" seria um conselho direto ("you should..."); aqui o enunciador não aconselha explicitamente uma ação, apenas antecipa que o tema surgirá.
B — a permission: permissão aparece com modais como may ou em estruturas interrogativas ("Shall I...?"); não é o caso.
D — a possibility: possibilidade seria algo incerto ("might/may"). A frase usa shall em sentido mais categórico/expectativo, não apenas possibilidade fraca.
E — a duty: dever/obrigação seria marcado por must ou por contextos normativos; nesta sentença o tom não é prescritivo/legal.
Estratégias para provas: identifique o modal; substitua por equivalente (will / will need to / may) para testar o sentido; elimine opções que implicam contexto jurídico (duty) ou interrogativo (permission).
Fonte: gramáticas de referência sobre modais (Cambridge/Oxford) e prática de análise contextual de modais.
Gostou do comentário? Deixe sua avaliação aqui embaixo!
