#3 - M: The Greek alphabet must have been invented by some individual who knew the Phoenician

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Method of Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[Hmcghee]

I was left between answer choices D and E for this question and I chose answer choice E because there aren't many time when absurdity is a used in a stimulus argument.

While the phrase "Your ... laughable" supports answer choice D, is answer choice E wrong because there isn't any evidence supporting M's hypothesis?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Hmcghee!

Actually LSAT speakers point out absurdity a lot! There are many examples of a stimulus with two speakers in which the second speaker even explicitly states something like "Your conclusion is absurd!" or "That's absurd!" So don't get rid of answer choices just because they use the term "absurd"

As you noted, answer choice (E) is incorrect because there isn't really any evidence put forth in M's argument that P could provide an alternative interpretation of. But the scenario described in (E) is also fairly common on the LSAT. It typically occurs in causal arguments. For example, speaker A might say something like "The students that work have lower grades. Therefore, working causes them to have lower grades." And speaker B might respond with "No, perhaps the students work more because they are not academically successful." Both speakers are using the same evidence (the correlation between working and grades) but they are interpreting it differently. Speaker A thinks that work is causing lower grades and speaker B thinks that low grades are causing the students to work.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey