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 mab9178
  • Posts: 96
  • Joined: May 02, 2022
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#99472
Thank you Luke
 dshen123
  • Posts: 32
  • Joined: Nov 18, 2023
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#110020
How to negate “only” statements? Here we changed only to some and added dont before closely. I thought it’s “ some experiences that closely resemble what takes place in the school environment can not be educational “? Please help thank you
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 Jeff Wren
PowerScore Staff
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#110204
Hi dshen,

The first thing to note is that the word "only" is being used conditionally in Answer B. This is important to note because the word "only" can be used conditionally (as it is here), but can also be used in a non-conditional way. Therefore, whenever you come across the word "only," the first step is to determine whether it is being used conditionally.

Here's an example of a conditional use of "only."

Only vegetarians liked the pizza.

This could be reworded to:

Everyone who liked the pizza was a vegetarian.

Or

All the people who liked the pizza were vegetarians.

To negate a conditional statement, you show the sufficient condition happening without the necessary condition.

Here, you would show that there was at least one person (i.e. some) who liked the pizza who was not a vegetarian. This is showing the sufficient condition occurring without the necessary. In other words, you negate the necessary condition.

To negate the sentence "All apples are red," you would show at least one (i.e. some) apple that is not red.

Answer B can be reworded as:

All educational experiences must closely resemble what takes place in the school environment.

To negate this, you would show at least one (i.e. some) educational experience that does not closely resemble what takes place in the school environment.

Here's an example of the word "only" used non-conditionally.

You can buy this for only $9.99.

To negate this sentence, you would just add the word "not" after the word "can."

You can not buy this for only $9.99.

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