How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?

Only the right answer will be support for the conclusion that doesn’t bring in anything new. You could also say only the right answer must be true if the conclusion is true.

Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:

highly profitable corporations can save money by giving their employees expensive bonuses.

[BACKGROUND]. [BACKGROUND]. [SUPPORT]. So [CONCLUSION].

I hope you can recognize how the author changed the subject before and after “So”. The author said basically the same thing twice, but made a substitution. First they said “corporations can save money” if “employees are given strong incentives”. Then they said “corporations can save money by giving their employees expensive bonuses”. The clear assumption is that an expensive bonus is a strong incentive. That’s what the right answer will say.

Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:

(A) only a few corporations give…

Both the support and the conclusion say how corporations “can” save money. The argument doesn’t get into how many actually do.

(B) …it is because such bonuses would reduce…

The author isn’t assuming this has to be the reason. The argument is only that it “can” work that way. There could totally be other reasons why giving out bonuses could save them money.

(C) …the less likely it is that the corporation will actually have…

This answer is also focused on what “actually” happens, but the passage is entirely hypothetical. It only says what “can” happen.

(D) …expensive bonuses constitute strong incentives…

Boom! Here’s the one that connects the wording in the support to the wording in the conclusion, without bringing in anything new the passage doesn’t mention.

(E) …only if its employees are given expensive bonuses.

Even if the conclusion is true, there could totally be other ways for these companies to save money. The author never rules anything out.

(D) is the correct answer.

Common pattern/s in this question: This one’s a great example that when you spot new wording in the conclusion, you know the right answer will call out that the author changed the subject. You could almost write the right answer yourself.