Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT126 S1 Q3 Explanation

Durth: Increasingly, businesses use

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

TopicsMethod

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Stimulus

Durth: Increasingly, businesses use direct mail advertising instead of paying for advertising space in newspapers, in magazines, or on billboards. This practice is annoying and also immoral. Most direct mail advertisements are thrown out without ever being read, and the paper on which they this much paper, it would be considered unconscionable.

What this question is testing

Method

Your task

Describe how the argument proceeds — the technique it uses to reach its conclusion.

Common trap

Answers that describe a method the argument doesn't actually use.

Winning move

Track the role each statement plays, then match that to the choice describing the same moves.

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

The question
3.

Which one of the following most accurately describes Durth's method

Answer choices

  1. Out Of Scope: “counterexample”1% picked this

    presenting a specific counterexample to the contention that direct mail advertising

    There is no counterexample. Examples are specific person / places / things. This answer would be correct if the argument had said, “Some people say direct mail isn’t immoral, but consider the case of Company X (who direct mailed, immorally)”.

  2. Out Of Scope: “more widespread practice”4% picked this

    asserting that there would be very undesirable consequences if direct mail advertising became a more widespread practice

    The author does discuss undesirable consequences of direct mail, but she never asserts anything about what would occur if the practice were more widespread.

  3. Correct90% picked this

    claiming that direct mail advertising is immoral because one of its results would be deemed

    Why this is right

    The claim = the conclusion. Because = the evidence. The author’s conclusion was that direct mail is immoral (and annoying). Part of the evidence, the last sentence, was that in any other context if you wasted this much paper you’d be chastised for it.

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

  4. Bad Premise Match2% picked this

    basing a conclusion on the claim that direct mail advertising is annoying to those

    No, the conclusion mentions it being annoying, but none of the evidence (the basis) talks about direct mail being annoying. Nothing in the evidence compares the negative effects of direct mail to those of other types of advertising.

  5. Bad Premise Match3% picked this

    asserting that other advertising methods do not have the negative effects of

    Nothing in the evidence compares the negative effects of direct mail to those of other types of advertising.

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