Everyone sitting in the waiting

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: none had ever played6% picked this

   None of the people sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock

   We know all these people in this office registered for a beginners tennis clinic, and thus are not accomplished tennis players, but that doesn't mean they've never ever tried playing tennis.

   6%
2. B

   Too Strong: only15% picked this

   Everyone sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock registered only for

   This is basically just repeating the first sentence, but changing the meaning by adding the word "only". LSAT loves to trap people with this feel of "the only thing we mentioned must be the only thing". We don't know if beginners tennis is the only thing they registered for. They might have also signed up for intramural volleyball. We have no idea.

   15%
3. C

   Too Strong: only5% picked this

   John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people who registered for a beginners tennis

   Same as (B). We know that these three people all registered for a beginners tennis clinic, but we have no idea if they were the only ones who did. It's trying to fool people into thinking, "if these three are the only ones mentioned, then they must be the only ones." That's not how language/meaning works. I can say, accurately, that Mars and Venus revolve around the Sun. Does that mean I just committed myself to the idea that "only Mars and Venus revolve around the Sun?" Of course not.

   5%
4. D

   Too Strong: only4% picked this

   John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people sitting in the waiting room of the school’s athletic office

   Same as (B) and (C). We know that these three people were all sitting in the office, but we don't know if they were the only people sitting there.

   4%
5. E

   Correct71% picked this

   Neither John nor Teresa is an accomplished

   Why this is right

   Our prephrase was that "John, Mary, and Teresa are not accomplished tennis players". But wait -- why does this only name two of them? Because, LSAT is trying to make things less obvious. The fact that this is only 2/3 of what we know doesn't make it any less true. If I say, "Mars revolves around the Sun", it's a true statement. Just because there are other planets that also revolve around the Sun doesn't make what I said any less true.

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

   71%