Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT118 S4 Q7 Explanation

A typical gasoline-powered lawn mower

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

TopicsStrengthen

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Stimulus

A typical gasoline-powered lawn mower emits about as much air-polluting material per hour of use as does an automobile. Collectively, such mowers contribute significantly to summer air pollution. Since electric mowers emit no air pollutants, people choosing electric mowers over gasoline ones whenever feasible.

What this question is testing

Strengthen

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion more likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that are consistent with the argument but add no real support, or that strengthen a claim the argument doesn't make.

Winning move

Locate the gap between evidence and conclusion, then pick the choice that closes it.

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

The question
7.

Which one of the following, if true, provides the most support for

Answer choices

  1. No Distinction / No Impact1% picked this

    Lawns help to clean the air, replacing pollutants

    This has nothing to do with comparing electric mowers to gasoline mowers.

  2. No Impact / Irrelevant Comparison1% picked this

    Electric lawn mowers are more expensive to purchase and maintain than

    This argument doesn't care at all about what the cost of either mower is. We're only analyzing which one is better when it comes to reducing air pollution.

  3. Correct96% picked this

    Producing the power to run an electric mower for an hour causes less air pollution than does running

    Why this is right

    If producing the power to run an electric mower for an hour causes less air pollution than running an automobile, it implies that even the indirect emissions (from electricity production) of electric mowers are lower than those from gasoline mowers. This supports the argument that choosing electric mowers will help reduce air pollution.

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

  4. Opposite (if anything)2% picked this

    Most manufacturers of gasoline lawn mowers are trying to redesign their mowers to reduce the

    This sounds like gas mowers are getting better, when it comes to emissions of air pollutants.

  5. No Impact (Irrelevant Comparison)0% picked this

    Lawn mowers are used for fewer hours per year than

    The comparison of total hours mowers are used versus automobiles doesn't address the pollution impact of substituting electric mowers for gasoline mowers in terms of per-hour emissions.

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