Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT8 S4 Q23 Explanation

Sabina: The words used in

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

TopicsAgree/Disagree

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Stimulus

Sabina: The words used in expressing facts affect neither the facts nor the conclusions those facts will support. Moreover, if the words are clearly defined and consistently used, the actual words chosen make no difference to an argument’s soundness. Thus, how bearing on whether it is a good argument.

Emile: Badly chosen words can make even the soundest argument a poor one. After all, many words have social and political connotations that influence people’s response to claims expressed in those words, regardless of how carefully and explicitly those words are defined. Since whether people will acknowledge is expressed, the conclusions they actually draw are also affected.

What this question is testing

Agree/Disagree

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
23.

The point at issue between Emile and Sabina

Answer choices

  1. Trap19% picked this

    defining words in one way rather than another can alter either the facts or the conclusions

  2. Trap4% picked this

    a word can be defined without taking into account its social

  3. Trap3% picked this

    a sound argument in support of a given conclusion is a better argument than any unsound argument

  4. Trap13% picked this

    it would be a good policy to avoid using words that are likely to lead people either to misunderstand the claims being made or

  5. Correct61% picked this

    a factor that affects neither the truth of an argument’s premises nor the logical relation between its premises and its conclusion can cause an

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

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