#2 - Successful stand-up comedians are able to keep the

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[chian9010]

I have the question answered correct but I wasn't 100% sure about the difference in between B, C and E.

From the stimulus, "humor is the means through which comedians are able to accomplish all of this" does this means that humor is sufficient to accomplish right?

I didn't select C is because from the stimulus it indicate that humor can accomplish all this but that doesn't mean humor is the only mean to accomplish this.

I didn't select E is because the "most serious topic" seems too restrict to me. However, I do have a question if the answer choice E rephrase to "university professors should treat serious topics in a humorous way" will it become a correct answer?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Chian,

I don't think you can read the statement "humor is the means through which comedians are able to accomplish all of this" as a conditional statement. It's not stating that the only way to accomplish their goals are through humor, just that humor is a way in which they are able to accomplish their goal of making an interesting point about a serious topic. We can't say that if there's humor, then there will be an interesting point on a serious topic. Humor could be used in other ways as well. The stimulus is describing a method, not a clear if--then relationship.

That helps us to eliminate answer choice (C) which says that it is a conditional relationship.

For answer choice (E), there's no support that professor's should treat all serious topics in a humorous way. The argument supports that humor is A way to make a point, but not the only way. Your edit to the answer choice would make it better, but would still be less strong than answer choice (B) as the passage doesn't support a blanket policy that humor is helpful for all serious topics.

That leaves us with answer choice (B) which states that humor can help make a point in lectures the same way it can make a point for comedians. That's fully supported by the passage above.

Hope that helps!

[mbarber]

Hello- could you explain further why C is incorrect? I chose this answer because the statement of the following statement: "Unsurprisingly, humor is the means through which comedians are able to accomplish this." I was thrown off when it said "THE means", which seemed to imply "the only means". How do we know that this is just one of many methods that could be used, rather than the only method? Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

I agree with Rachael here, mbarber - this does not read to me as a conditional, implying that comedians couldn't do it some other way. This is the way they do it. It may be the only way that they do it. But that doesn't mean it is the only way they COULD do it. And even if you assume that this is the only way that comedians are able to do this, one problem with answer C is that it would require us knowing that professors are just as constrained as comedians. Maybe professors are able to do things in ways that wouldn't work for comedians? Maybe they have different skills and their audiences have different needs?

Also think about the Uniqueness Principle of answer choices here. If answer C is a correct answer, then answer B must also be correct, right? If humor is the only thing that can help, then humor must be one possible way of helping. That alone would prove that C cannot be the credited response, because then the test makers would have to give you credit for selecting B or selecting C, and they are never going to do that!

Finally, in a Must Be True question, strong answers tend to be bad answers. Not always, but usually. So we should be very skeptical about answer C, with it's extreme use of "only if." Go for the softer answer, the one that is easier to prove based on these facts. Go for the "can" instead of the requirement.

[kggraf]

Apologies as we've covered every other answer choice, why is D incorrect?

[atierney]

So, we're considering answer choices for a Must-Be-True question and we come upon an answer choice that is facially true from what must be due to our consideration of the endless possibilities in life, maybe experience, and our unending hope in the fulfillment of higher education. What do we do?

Well, naturally we mark it off!

In seriousness, and alas (I am an LSAT tutor and not (yet) a comedian), answer choice D is not "proven" by the "facts" of the stimulus alone, and thus it would not the answer choice we would pick as the correct in a Must-Be-True scenario. Additionally, the question stem mentions humor as the secret sauce (to life) to the comedians ability to "entertain," thus there is no reason to suppose that the correct answer choice would not mention the same.

Let me know if you have further questions on this.

[LawSchoolDream]

I chose E because of the similarity to comedians. I skipped the correct answer because I felt saying the professors could use humor to achieve the goals they had for their lecture was way too broad. What if the professors had additional goals of having classwork complete on time? in that case they'd establish deadlines... E felt the most close to the argument. Can you please clarify this thinking pattern and also why E is so incorrect? Because I feel the correct answer seems more incorrect to me

[Robert Carroll]

LawSchoolDream,

Well, comedians are of course going to treat all topics with humor, but that doesn't mean professors have to do so. Answer choice (E) is far too strong. On the other hand, what you call "breadth" in answer choice (B) is exactly why it's right. It is not in any way saying that all professors' goals can be accomplished with humor. It says it "can" help with their goals. If it helps with a single goal in any way, it helps. Answer choice (B) is correct because it's saying something pretty weak and tame - humor can help professors.

Robert Carroll