Conditional Language

[LSATer]

I have an app on my phone that sends me random games. I have a question about a rule from one of these games. I am not sure if it's from a preptest or not.

The rule: "Marc can only present first if Oliver presents third"

I diagrammed it O3--->M1 but I got the question wrong because and it was explained to me that it should be M1--->O3

Is this correct? And if so, can you please explain to me why?


Thank you,

LSATer

[Kristina Moen]

Hi LSATer,

"Marc can only present first if Oliver presents third."

This sentence is tricky because our conditional reasoning indicators are spliced in half. You can rewrite this as:
"Marc can present first only if Oliver presents third."

Since "only if" is a Necessary Condition Indicator, this would be diagrammed as M1 -> O3.

Sometimes it helps to take a sentence and imagine a real-life situation that makes sense to you.

For example, "You can only go to law school if you graduate from college" means that the graduating from college is necessary for law school.

[LSATer]

Nice! I had never come across this situation before. Thank you for your help!