#24 - One sure way you can tell how quickly a new idea--for

[Brook Miscoski]

Wapet,

Please review Dave Kiloran's earlier reply, which sheds light on your question.

The question stem asks you what the method assumes. The method is to monitor adoption of ideas by monitoring adoption of words. That means the method assumes an equivalency between the ideas and the words, making (D) the correct choice.

(C) can be eliminated, among other reasons, because the stimulus does not explain how dictionary editors are part of that method, or whether they even use it.

Remember, always get your task from the specific question stem you are reading.

[lsatprep1215]

Hi powerscore, I now understand why D is correct. I picked C because I didn't read the question stem carefully. I want to ask would C be the correct answer if the question stem is not asking about the method but just asking about the entire question in general? Such like: Which one of the following is an assumption that the argument depends?" When I was doing this question ANS choice C is similar to what I anticipated: the dictionary editors will have the words that have passed into common usage in their dictionary. If I negate answer C then the second sentence of the argument will be destroy.

[Adam Tyson]

Even with that altered question stem, answer C would still not be a required assumption, lsatprep1215, because the author is not concerned with whether the words expressing those ideas actually get into the dictionary. She is concerned only with what the editors of those dictionaries think, their professional opinions about the words. Answer C is something of a shell game, confusing the idea of "dictionary editors" with the idea of "dictionaries." Beware of those shifting terms and concepts!

[cameron.brown10]

what exactly was wrong with B?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Cameron,

Answer choice B is a little too precise to be a necessary assumption of the argument. If it had said, "dictionary editors' professional opinions concerning passage into common usage are generally reliable," then I'd agree that's probably an assumption of the argument. But the author takes no position, and doesn't have to take a position, on precisely how (whether through exact numerical criteria or otherwise) those editors arrive at their (reliable) professional opinions.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[Snomen]

Can anyone explain why E is incorrect? Thank you!

[Robert Carroll]

Snomen,

Because the author is talking about using the frequency with which a word is used as a proxy for how quickly the new idea expressed by that word is spreading, the author seems to think there is a strong connection between the word and the idea it expresses. Would the author need to assume that those words are used before the idea is understood? If anything, the author's argument would want the opposite to be true - the word is so common because the idea is so common, so people are using the word because they're thinking and talking about the idea. It seems much more likely they do understand the idea than the opposite. Thus, answer choice (E) looks close to an opposite answer.

Robert Carroll

[RottenPJ]

Can someone please explain how answer choice D is correct? I just can't figure this one out.... thanks in advance.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi RottenPJ,

First, if you haven't done so already, I'd recommend reading the entire thread for this forum post, as there are several prior answers that you may find helpful, especially Dave's, Beth's, and Brook's explanations, which focus on why Answer D is correct.

The beginning of the discussion can be found here.

viewtopic.php?f=687&t=4575

To recap those explanations, the question is asking for the assumption underlying the method that is described in the stimulus, so you need to focus on the method itself. The method is described in the first sentence of the stimulus, and it involves monitoring how fast a word or words expressing a particular idea becomes commonly used in order to determine how quickly the idea itself is taking hold.

In order for that method to work, the words that are being monitored have to be equivalent to/represent the idea that they express and not change meaning as they become popular. If they did change meaning at some point, then it would be possible for the word to be popular but the original idea that the word expressed to not be popular. This is exactly what Answer D is getting at. (See Beth's example of the 90s expression "the bomb" for a good illustration of how a word's meaning may change over time.)