#13 - It is a given that to be an intriguing person

[blade21cn]

I thought this is a tough question. I'm really lost in its convoluted language ... to the point that I thought the third sentence starting with "For" is a typo. Specifically, the period before "For" should be a comma and "For" should be in lowercase. While I'm on it, is the third sentence even grammatical? Isn't it a sentence fragment? "For such a perpetual expansion of one's mind makes it impossible to be fully comprehended, making one a constant mystery to others." What is the subject of this sentence? I know "because/as/since/for" all can introduce a "reason" clause, but all these conjunctions are used in the same sentence as the phononemon it attempts to explain, i.e., the main clause. How can a subordinating clause be upgraded/elevated to a standalone independent sentence, still with a conjunction "for" in front of it? In addition, I've never seen "for" used as a conjunctive adverb and I'm pretty sure "for" is not an adverb, unlike "therefore," "however," etc.

Failing to comprehend the logic in the stimulus, I thought I could cheat myself out of it by analyzing the structure. "It is a given that ..." indicates this part does not need support, which is a premise. Thus, (A) is eliminated. (B), (C), and (E) all contain conditional language, which I did not spot in the stimulus, which seems to be all fact-based. So I'm stuck with (D). But with hindsight, "must" in (D) also signifies a conditional relationship.

Hope some expert can unpack the stimulus for me! Thanks.

[bella243]

Hi Powerscore,

Same question from me. We want the main point, right? I actually eliminated B, the correct answer, thinking it was a mistaken reversal. Or does the stimulus have a double-arrow relationship?

I also eliminated A because it simply restates part of the passage (so it can't be the main conclusion/main point).

Here's the diagram:
Intriguing -> inspire curiosity -> broaden abilities and extend intellectual reach -> cannot be fully comprehended -> making you a constant mystery to others.

[Tajadas]

Bump. I could use help with this too!

If I understand correctly, the first sentence cannot be the main point because of "it is a given", making it a premise. The last sentence is not the main point because it seems to me a rephrasing of the second sentence, where "such a perpetual expansion of one’s mind and extending one’s intellectual reach" = "Constantly broadening one’s abilities" and "makes it impossible to be fully comprehended, making one a constant mystery to others"= "enable one to inspire that curiosity"

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Tajadas! This is a Main Point question, which means that all we're trying to do here is identify the Conclusion of the argument. Our right answer choice will just re-state the Conclusion.

You're exactly right that the phrase "it is a given that..." tips us off that the first sentence is in fact a premise. Nice job recognizing that.

By the same token, "for" is a good clue that our last sentence of the stimulus is also a premise. "For" at the beginning of a clause is a premise indicator, functioning similarly to words like "because" or "since".

This stimulus is a bit odd to read, and the conclusion certainly doesn't jump out at us. (This is often the case for Main Point questions!) But by recognizing our premise indicators, we can safely determine that the first and final sentences are premises. This leaves our second sentence as our only possible conclusion. Indeed, if we consider the "logical flow" of the argument - the first and third sentences are used to support our second sentence (another way of recognizing a conclusion). So we know our second sentence is our conclusion.

Answer choice B is a valid re-statement of our second sentence/conclusion. To address bella243's point, it is not a Mistaken Reversal (nor is there a double arrow relationship here); the second sentence sets up a relationship where "constantly broadening one’s abilities and extending one’s intellectual reach" is sufficient to bring about the necessary condition of "inspiring curiosity".

Hope that helps!

[Snomen]

Can anyone please explain "will"+"enable" are necessary indicators or not? I thought that the first part of the second sentence was necessary because I asked myself what "will" enable one to inspire that curiosity? And the answer is "Constantly broadening one's ability and extending one's intellectual reach". Can anyone please correct my logic and explain to me how we should correctly diagram sentences that include "will" and "enable" or only one of those. How to correctly figure out which part is sufficient and which is necessary?
Thank you in advance.

[Adam Tyson]

Try thinking of necessary conditions this way, snomen: a necessary condition is something that is guaranteed to occur any time something else occurs. According to this author, constantly broadening your abilities will enable you to inspire curiosity. That means that the guaranteed thing is the ability to inspire that curiosity. There is no guarantee that you are going to do the work of broadening your abilities - that's up to you to choose or not! But if you do it, then it's a guarantee that you will be able to inspire curiosity. IF you broaden your abilities, THEN you will be able to inspire curiosity. See the conditional relationship work itself out there?

"Will" is not, by itself, a conditional indicator, but if it was going to indicate something then it would indicate what's necessary, not what's sufficient, because "will" is an expression of certainty. It's a guarantee! Whatever "will" occur is isn't up in the air, like a sufficient condition that may or may not occur. It's what is certain to occur IF something else occurs.