A supervisor's report states: 'Output on the night shift is a fifth lower than on the day shift. The night-shift workers are not less skilled — most of them worked days until last year. The lighting over the packing benches is far weaker at night than the daylight the day shift works by. Fitting brighter lamps over those benches would cost little and should be tried before anything else is altered.' The statement that most night-shift workers worked days until last year serves to:

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set aside one explanation of the lower output, clearing the way for the explanation the report goes on to offer. The obvious first guess for lower night output is that the night workers are less able. Pointing out that most of them did the same work by day removes that guess, so the reader is ready to accept lighting as the cause. The recommendation about lamps comes later; nothing in the sentence bears on running cost; and a worker's past shift cannot explain why the lamps are dim.

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