#13 - Must Be True

[15veries]

Hi

Is D wrong because in the passage it only says "possible" argument against....in line 40?
So possible, but may not exist.

[Adam Tyson]

Actually, 15v, the biggest problem with answer D here is that it focuses on regionally oriented law schools. The objections raised in the passage to teaching statutory law were more general, about all law schools and not specifically about regionally oriented schools. The author's reply discussed some differences between regional and national programs, but the objection itself made no distinction.

Every word matters on this test, including every word in the answer choices! The inclusion of "regionally oriented" in this answer kills it for us. If not for those words, this would have been a great answer.

[jwheeler]

Where does it explicity state that the primary focus of law schools is on analysis of judicial decisions and cases? In paragraph 1, it states that much of the legal education has that focus, but that doesn't necessarily mean most. You could easily still say that the primary focus of law schools is X (let's say ethics) and this whole passage could still be true.

[Adam Tyson]

I read that sentence a little differently than you did, jwheeler, and your reading appears to be what is causing you a problem. The immediate antecedent for "its focus" is "legal education". The word "much" refers to the portion of that education that can give a student the wrong impression. Put another way, the sentence is saying:

Legal education has a focus on judicial decisions and analysis of cases, and much of it can give a law student the wrong impression.

Your reading was apparently "much of legal education is focused on judicial decisions and analysis of cases, which can give a law student the wrong impression." I don't think that's what the sentence means, grammatically speaking.

With that corrected read of the sentence in question, I think you would agree that we can now select answer E?

Here's an analogous claim, which I hope will help:

Much of his upbringing, with its focus on hard work and discipline, was physically and emotionally demanding.

I would read this as meaning that his upbringing was focused on hard work and discipline, and that much of it was physically and emotionally demanding. It would be a mistake to interpret this as meaning that much of his upbringing was focused on hard work and discipline, and that portion of it that had such a focus was demanding, leaving room for the majority of his upbringing being fun and carefree. Upbringing is the immediate antecedent of "its focus".

[SGD2021]

Does "much of legal education" really mean "most of legal education"?

[SGD2021]

Also, sorry for a second question, but why is C wrong?

[Adam Tyson]

See my explanation earlier in this thread, SGD, for why I think the sentence structure does not indicate that "much" indicates "most," but "its focus" does indicate "most."

For answer C, let me bounce that one back to you for a minute. Based solely on what you read in the passage , can you "clearly and directly" answer that question? Go ahead and list those common skills as they are given in the passage. But if you cannot, there's your answer as to what makes that a wrong answer!

[queenbee]

Hi
Any chance you can clarify why D is incorrect. The answer choice states, [what are some objections against including the study of statues in regionally oriented law schools]. The last paragraph is dedicated to that discussion. It seems like more information was provided on the objection to teaching statues than on the current curriculum for law schools.

Any chance you can help clarify?
Thank you!

[Robert Carroll]

queenbee,

The last paragraph does not provide support for answer choice (D). There has been an objection to studying statutes in nationally-oriented law schools because of the variation in jurisdictions, but in regionally-oriented law schools, that problem would not exist at all.

Robert Carroll

[mollylynch]

How do we know it is the "primary focus" (E) if the passage says "much of legal education, with its focus on judicial decisions and analysis of cases"? From much can we infer 'primary focus'?