Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT155 S4 Q13 ExplanationMayor: Some residents complain

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

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

Mayor: Some residents complain that the city has no right to require homeowners to connect to city water services, even though we are doing so in order to ensure public health and safety. But they are wrong. We will charge the homeowners a fair market price for the service, and our plan making the city a healthier and safer place in which to live.

What this question is testing

Principle-Strengthen

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
13.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, would most help to justify the reasoning in

Answer choices, explained

  1. Correct90% picked this

    A city has the right to require homeowners to connect to city water services if it charges a fair price for the service and

    Why this is right

    fair price and benefits all residents → right to require This connects two of the ideas in the evidence—charging a fair price and benefitting all of the city's residents—with the conclusion that the city has the right to require homeowners to connect to city water.

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

  2. Reversal3% picked this

    A city should require homeowners to connect to city water services only if it will increase revenue and make the city a healthier and

    should require → increase revenue + healthier and safer This would be an illegal reversal of the type of statement we want.

  3. Negation1% picked this

    A city has no right to require homeowners to connect to city water services if it does not charge the homeowners a

    ~fair price → ~right to require This would be an illegal negation of the type of statement we want.

  4. Bad Conclusion Match4% picked this

    Residents of a city have no right to complain about the requirement that homeowners connect to city water services if the requirement will

    The conclusion doesn't state that residents have no right to complain. It states that the residents who complain are wrong. Someone can be completely wrong about something and still have a right to express their opinion. There are plenty of examples of this on Reddit (and Facebook, and LinkedIn...).

  5. Bad Conclusion Match2% picked this

    A city can successfully increase revenue and make itself a healthier and safer place to live only if the city is able to require

    The conclusion of the argument is about the city having a right to require homeowners to connect to city water services. That's not the same as being able to require it, which is what this answer describes. I might have a right to express my goofy opinions on Reddit, but if I'm stuck in the middle of the desert without any internet connection, I would not be able to do that.

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