Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT138 S3 Q15 Explanation

Anyone who knows Ellsworth

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

TopicsSufficient Assumption

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Anyone who knows Ellsworth knows that he is bursting with self-righteousness, touting the idealism of his generation over the greed of the previous generation. So no one who knows him will be surprised that Ellsworth is offended he has engaged in unethical business practices.

What this question is testing

Sufficient Assumption

Your task

Find the assumption that, if added, guarantees the conclusion follows.

Common trap

Answers that only partly bridge the gap, leaving the conclusion unproven.

Winning move

Identify the new term in the conclusion and pick the choice that links it to the evidence.

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

The question
15.

The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following

Answer choices

  1. Bad Conclusion Match12% picked this

    Everyone suspects self-righteous people of being, in

    This would work if it said "everyone suspects self-righteous people of being likely to take great offense to being accused of unethical business practices"

  2. Unrelated to Goal4% picked this

    Ellsworth has been accused of unethical business

    We only care about getting from "if you know X, you'll be unsurprised to hear Y". This isn't giving us any sort of rule about how people would associate two thoughts.

  3. Out of Scope: hypocrite7% picked this

    Hypocrites often hide behind righteous

    We only care about getting from "if you know X, you'll be unsurprised to hear Y". This answer would, at best, give us a rule that says "If you know someone is a hypocrite, then you'll be unsurprised that they hide behind righteous indignation."

  4. Unrelated to Goal3% picked this

    Ellsworth is in fact innocent of

    We only care about getting from "if you know X, you'll be unsurprised to hear Y". This isn't giving us any sort of rule about how people would associate two thoughts.

  5. Correct74% picked this

    Everyone expects self-righteous people to be

    Why this is right

    This helps get us from "If you know self-righteous, then you'll be unsurprised to hear that greatly offended he's being accused of unethical business practice." Everyone expects = No one will be surprised Since everyone who knows E knows he's self-righteous, and since everyone expects self-righteous people to be easily offended, no one who knows E will be surprised that he's offended by media accusations against him.

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

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free