#21 - Developer: The builders of the Glen Veil apartment

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen- PR, SN. The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[djcfrims]

Hi!

A in this answer seems wrong because the construction project is sufficient vis-a-vis town economy not necessary.

I diagrammed Answer B as IF CR Produce Benefits to every resident THEN vote for Tax,

Can you explain why E is superior and why B is wrong?

Thanks

[KelseyWoods]

Hi djcfrims!

Check your diagram for answer choice (B)--"unless" statements are tricky!

Answer choice (B) states: "The residents of a town should not vote in favor of a local tax to fund a construction project unless that construction project will produce results that benefit all of those residents."

The Unless Equation gives us a two step process for diagramming statements using the term "unless":
1.) Whatever term is modified by "unless" becomes our necessary condition (end of our arrow).
2.) The remaining term gets negated before it becomes our sufficient condition (beginning of our arrow).

So for (B):
1.) "Unless" modifies "construction project will produce results that benefit all of those residents," so that is our necessary condition.
2.) The negation of the remaining term is "The residents of a town should vote in favor of a local tax to fund a construction project."

So the diagram is:

Residents should vote in favor of local tax Construction project will benefit all of those residents

That's a Mistaken Reversal of what we're looking for based on the stimulus.

Answer choice (E), however, gets the relationship in the right direction: "Anyone who would benefit from the results of a construction project should vote in favor of a local tax to fund that project."

"Anyone" is a sufficient indicator so the diagram would be:

Benefit from the results of construction project Vote in favor of local tax to fund construction project

Note that the Unless Equation also applies to the terms "until," "except," and "without." Be on the lookout for those terms and be careful when you are diagramming statements with them. Have that Unless Equation memorized!

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[pradhyumanbhutani]

Can you please break down how the stimulus leads to the conditional relationship ultimately found in the answer?

I understand the conditional statement in the first sentence i.e. will complete complex -> road built but that is not the relationship directly relevant to the correct answer. I don't understand how we determine the conditional statement(s) that come out of the second and third sentences so if you could please break it down in detail, that would really help including how we identify the suff and nec conditions there.

[pradhyumanbhutani]

I'm also confused if the apartment should ultimately have been built because it benefits the economy or benefits every resident, is there any conditionality involved here too?

[pradhyumanbhutani]

Explanations of why the other answers are incorrect would also help e.g. A which I had originally chosen

[Adam Tyson]

This stimulus is partly conditional and partly causal, pradhyumanbhutani, so that may be the source of some of your confusion. The first sentence is conditional as indicated by the use of "unless," and it could be diagrammed this way:

CC (complete the complex) RB (road is built)

The next part is causal: completing the complex will strengthen the economy, which will in turn benefit the residents. We COULD diagram those conditionally, making the causes sufficient for the effects, but we don't have to do that.

Finally, the conclusion is neither conditional nor causal. The author thinks residents should vote for a tax that would pay for the road. Why? Because although the road may not guarantee that the complex will be completed, it would at least allow it to be completed, and completing the complex carries with it those benefits.

Our job is to strengthen the claim that they should vote for the tax, and our prephrase should be something like "people should do things that could help them get benefits." We could be a little more specific than that if we wish: "if building a road might benefit people, then those people should vote for a tax to build the road."

Basically, look for an answer that suggests that there is a good reason to vote for the tax! Strengthen the claim that the residents should vote for it.

Answer A doesn't help because we don't know if this construction project is necessary. We know it would help, but not that it is required. This answer therefore doesn't apply to the facts in the argument.

Answer B looks like a Mistaken Reversal of what we want. Diagram it and you'll get: Should Vote for Tax Benefit; we want it the other way around.

Answer C doesn't tell us whether anyone should vote for this tax. It just indicates that a tax is preferable to a debt. But maybe they shouldn't support finding the project at all? We need something that more affirmatively gets people to vote for the tax.

Answer D is irrelevant, because the issue in the argument isn't who pays the tax, but rather about who should vote in favor of the tax. This answer doesn't give anyone a reason to vote for the tax.

Answer E is correct because it matches our prephrase nicely: if you will benefit (and we know everyone will, according to the stimulus), then you should vote in favor. That helps the argument a lot, and must be our winner.

[chickfu]

This stimulus is partly conditional and partly causal, pradhyumanbhutani, so that may be the source of some of your confusion. The first sentence is conditional as indicated by the use of "unless," and it could be diagrammed this way:

CC (complete the complex) RB (road is built)

The next part is causal: completing the complex will strengthen the economy, which will in turn benefit the residents. We COULD diagram those conditionally, making the causes sufficient for the effects, but we don't have to do that.

Finally, the conclusion is neither conditional nor causal. The author thinks residents should vote for a tax that would pay for the road. Why? Because although the road may not guarantee that the complex will be completed, it would at least allow it to be completed, and completing the complex carries with it those benefits.

Our job is to strengthen the claim that they should vote for the tax, and our prephrase should be something like "people should do things that could help them get benefits." We could be a little more specific than that if we wish: "if building a road might benefit people, then those people should vote for a tax to build the road."

Basically, look for an answer that suggests that there is a good reason to vote for the tax! Strengthen the claim that the residents should vote for it.

Answer A doesn't help because we don't know if this construction project is necessary. We know it would help, but not that it is required. This answer therefore doesn't apply to the facts in the argument.

Answer B looks like a Mistaken Reversal of what we want. Diagram it and you'll get: Should Vote for Tax Benefit; we want it the other way around.

Answer C doesn't tell us whether anyone should vote for this tax. It just indicates that a tax is preferable to a debt. But maybe they shouldn't support finding the project at all? We need something that more affirmatively gets people to vote for the tax.

Answer D is irrelevant, because the issue in the argument isn't who pays the tax, but rather about who should vote in favor of the tax. This answer doesn't give anyone a reason to vote for the tax.

Answer E is correct because it matches our prephrase nicely: if you will benefit (and we know everyone will, according to the stimulus), then you should vote in favor. That helps the argument a lot, and must be our winner.

I still do not understand why A is incorrect and E is correct. Does the stimulus not indicate that the road is in fact necessary/required for the complexes to be built? I understand that the road does not guarantee that the complexes will be built, which will in turn strengthen the economy, but they are still a necessary condition? Furthermore, answer E seems to suggest or imply to me that building the road guarantees that the complexes will be built because of the way it is phrased: that anyone who WOULD benefit from the results of a construction project should vote in favour of funding it. But there are no guaranteed results stemming from the road being built. It is possible that no one would benefit if the complexes were not finished, despite the road being built.

[atierney]

Hello,

The stimulus never indicates that the road is **necessary** for the town's economy, and this is really what you are looking for, in order to have A be the correct answer. In terms of answer choice E, I believe you are quibbling with the difference between "would" and "could," and I think the point is that the benefit "would" be incurred from the "results" of the construction projects; in other words, E is written such that it takes into account possibility of incompletion, i.e. the intended results were not realized. Here, the funding provides a necessary element toward obtaining the results, and per the principle in E, anyone who stands (probably a better word to use) to benefit from the project's completion, ought to vote in favor of that which would provide funding for a necessary element.

Once again, as I've said in a previous comment, the LSAT is a practice of adapting your understanding of the language in both the stimulus and the answer choices to reach the best possible answer for each question. Here, E is the better answer, because, notwithstanding your arguments to the contrary, it provides a logical sound principle wholly consistent with the statements of the stimulus. Answer Choice A is not consistent. There is nothing in the stimulus that indicates the Construction Project is *necessary* to boost the town's economy, merely that it is *sufficient* to boost the town's economy, i.e. its successful completion surely would boost it. This does not that the economy can't be boosted in other ways, **and** that the economy's boosting requires this project. Thus, A is logically incorrect, and for that reason, it is not the best answer. E is both a better answer than A and the best answer.

Let me know if you have further questions on this.

[15nae@queensu.ca]

hi!

How come this isnt a justify the conclusion question?