Hi, Mandrewg,
Good question! Clearly you've correctly identified "properly drawn" as indicator words for a Justify the Conclusion question. This is correct. However, there is a significant distinction between Justify and Strengthen questions that has to do with degrees of logical certainty.
Strengthen Questions ask you to find an answer that
most supports the conclusion of the argument in the stimulus.
(Note the word "most" for now)
Justify Questions ask you to find an answer that
if true would be sufficient to justify the conclusion of the argument in the stimulus.
Note the distinction between these two tasks. The difference is not just about word choice. The difference concerns whether or not the correct answer suffices to make the argument necessarily valid.
The correct answer to a Strengthen question will be a statement that is
most helpful to the argument among the options given. In other words, it will be better than the other choices. However, the correct answer need not be strong enough to make the argument valid.
It's not good enough for the correct answer to a Justify question only to make the argument stronger. The correct answer to a Justify question must be so helpful that it makes the argument airtight, incontrovertible, valid.
Let's now bring this discussion into StrengthenX and JustifyX.
Let's begin with a Justify question stem and then convert it into a JustifyX question:
- Justify Question: Which of the following, if true, establishes that the conclusion is properly drawn?
JustifyX Question: All of the following, if true, establish that the conclusion is properly drawn EXCEPT:
Note that in the JustifyX question there is no variation in
degree. It's all or nothing. Either the statement in an answer is sufficient to guarantee the validity of the conclusion or it is not. The one answer that is not sufficient is the correct answer to a JustifyX question.
Now let's look at a Strengthen question stem and then convert it into a StrengthenX question:
- Strengthen Question: Which of the following, if true, is most helpful in establishing that the conclusion is properly drawn?
StrengthenX Question: Which of the following, if true, is LEAST helpful in establishing that the conclusion is properly drawn?
We have kept the language very similar but we've changed the question task. Note the Strengthen and StrengthenX questions deal with "how helpful" answer choices are. For the Strengthen question, which is the most helpful? For the StrengthenX question, which is the least helpful?
I hope this was helpful!
