Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT109 S4 Q25 Explanation

Essayist: Every contract negotiator

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

Essayist: Every contract negotiator has been lied to by someone or other, and whoever lies to anyone is practicing deception. But, of course, anyone who has lied to someone or other.

What this question is testing

Must be True

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
25.

If the essayist’ s statements are true, which one of the following must

Answer choices

  1. Correct78% picked this

    Every contract negotiator has practiced

    Why this is right

    This connects the 1st to the 4th as we anticipated: Contract Been Has lied to Practice negotiator ? Lied to ? someone ? Deception

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

  2. Unsupported Distinction3% picked this

    Not everyone who practices deception is lying

    Not all A's are B translates into "Some A's are not B". So can we prove that "some people who practice deception are not lying?" Nope, We only heard about people who were lying. This chain doesn't combine the concepts of "practicing deception and not-lying": Contract Been Has lied to Practice negotiator ? Lied to ? someone ? Deception

  3. Contradicted2% picked this

    Not everyone who lies to someone is

    This contradicts the second claim, "whoever lies to anyone is practicing deception".

  4. Reversal4% picked this

    Whoever lies to a contract negotiator has been lied to by

    We knew "if you've been lied to, then you've lied". This answer is saying "if you've lied, then you've been lied to". That's an illegal reversal of the conditional (and the conditional also isn't stipulating that the person receiving the lie and telling the lie is interact with only one person. It could be that X lied to Y, and Y lied to Z. This answer is making it seem like there's a reflexive nature to the rule where you lie back to the one who lied to you) Contract Been Has lied to Practice negotiator ? Lied to ? someone ? Deception

  5. Reversal14% picked this

    Whoever lies to anyone is lied to

    We knew "if you've been lied to, then you've lied". This answer is saying "if you've lied, then you've been lied to". That's an illegal reversal of the conditional. Contract Been Has lied to Practice negotiator ? Lied to ? someone ? Deception

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