Lesson 2 Workbook Page 10

[concrottrox11@gmail.com]

When do you make conditional phrases out of a whole stimulus vs. when do you only make a conditional phrase out of one phrase.?

I know that usually you identify a conditional phrase indicator and that's how you know when to write out the conditional phrase, however in some problems, there are other phrases that could or could not be made into conditional form, and this confuses me when trying to pre-phrase.

[Robert Carroll]

concrottrox11,

Conditionals are always relationships between two conditions. So you have to ask which fact expresses the sufficient condition - what, if true, would make something else have to be true? And which fact expresses the necessary condition - what must be true every time something else is true? Perhaps an example could help:

John is in the accounting department. Everyone in the accounting department must attend the meeting at noon.

What's sufficient? "If you're John and in the accounting department, then..." No, that's not right - it's putting too much into the sufficient condition. Even if someone weren't John, if they were in the accounting department, they'd have to attend the meeting at noon. So the sufficient is just "in the accounting department" and the necessary is just "must attend the meeting at noon."

It may be that you're overemphasizing indicators. Even when you see an indicator, you still have to think "What is sufficient? Of all the facts the stimulus talks about, which one or ones are sufficient to make something else have to happen?" And, to identify what's necessary, you have to think "How much am I sure will have to happen if something else happens?" You include as much in the conditional as the stimulus expresses as sufficient and necessary for that conditional.

Robert Carroll