#4 - The frequently expressed view that written

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Main Point-SN. The correct answer choice is (A)

The stimulus for these two questions is that since constitutions are nothing more than words until those words are interpreted and applied, a written constitution is liberal only when it is interpreted and applied in a liberal way, so the idea that written constitutions are inherently more liberal than unwritten ones is false.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice, and is a rephrase of the main point, which is specifically stated in the first sentence.

Answer choice (B): The stimulus does not attack the validity of written constitutions, and this choice is unjustified. You should not assume there is anything self-contradictory just because a constitution is not viable until it is used.

Answer choice (C): This is totally unsupported by the stimulus, and incorrect. The stimulus discussed interpretation, and should not be interpreted as having intimated anything about misinterpretation. Furthermore, the stimulus never said that unwritten constitutions were not equally or more subject to interpretation.

Answer choice (D): Since the stimulus gives us no reason to believe that it is difficult to maintain liberal interpretations, this choice is unsupported by the stimulus, and incorrect.

Answer choice (E): The stimulus concerned how a constitution might become liberal, not the methods of interpreting a constitution, so this choice is unsupported and incorrect.

[LSAT2018]

Would the final sentence of the stimulus be a subsidiary conclusion?

[Shannon Parker]

Would the final sentence of the stimulus be a subsidiary conclusion?

Yes. It is.

Good work.
Shannon

[lina2020]

Hi PowerScore,

I got this question right merely through understanding how the sentences in the stimulus connect together. However, in an effort to better understand which sentences best lend themselves to diagramming, would you please write out the diagram for all Sufficient Necessary (SN) sentences in this stimulus?

1. Please specifically elaborate on the diagram for, "No written constitution is more than a paper with words on it until those words are both interpreted and applied". I didn't even know where to start with this one because of the two indicators: "no" and "until".

2. When there are multiple SN indicators in the same sentence, is there a general rule for which indicator takes precedence over the other or does using either one always lead to the same diagram?

3. If I were to occasionally apply the "if not" formula as an alternative to the "unless" formula, how does that affect sentences with multiple necessary or sufficient terms?

Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Lina,

*Please specifically elaborate on the diagram for, "No written constitution is more than a paper with words on it until those words are both interpreted and applied". I didn't even know where to start with this one because of the two indicators: "no" and "until".

We would diagram that just like any other unless/except/until/without conditional: we negate the sufficient, and plug in the necessary as is. So "no written constitution is.." becomes "a written constitution is..."

written constitution is more than words on paper words are interpreted and applied

The other conditional (that a written constitution is liberal only when it's interpreted and applied liberally) would look like the following:

written constitution liberal interpreted and applied liberally.

I'm not sure what your question about multiple conditional terms in one sentence means. The diagramming is all about the relationship between the variables. So it wouldn't matter if a sentence read "If it snows, I will stay in my house" or "I will stay in my house whenever it snows." The relationship between the sufficient and necessary conditions are the same in both examples.

*If I were to occasionally apply the "if not" formula as an alternative to the "unless" formula, how does that affect sentences with multiple necessary or sufficient terms?

I strongly recommend the unless equation because it's much clearer with multiple sufficient/necessary conditions. We have a full blog post available on this specific topic here.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[olenka.ballena@macaulay.cuny.edu]

Hi Powerscore,

I'm a bit confused with this question. I checked my diagrams with the instructor's right above, and all my diagrams were correct. I ended up choosing answer choice E because it was the only that I thought related or had any connection with the conditional relationships I had diagrammed.

I thought that since WC becomes LC --> ILW and APLW and its CP was NOT ILW or NOT ALW --> WC does NOT become LC, then that meant that there does have to be some criteria to evaluate the interpretation and application of constitutions, since whether it's a liberal constitutions depends on the way it's interpreted and applied.

Looking back, I see how A reflects perhaps the more general main point of the passage, but I felt like most of the passage was discussing the application/interpretation of a constitution, and the therefore in the last sentence misled me to think that the last sentence was the conclusion.

I guess my confusion lies in the fact that diagramming was essentially not necessary for this question? So not only did I get it wrong, but I also wasted much more time than needed. Are there any strategies to know when to diagram? And how to make sure I properly identify the main point/conclusion in main point questions?

[katehos]

Hi olenka.ballena!

Knowing when to diagram vs when not to diagram can definitely be tricky. Ultimately, everyone has their own preference and the more you practice the more you'll be able to find when it's necessary for you to diagram vs when it is not. In this case, if you were to diagram throughout your reading of the stimulus, that's okay! Ideally, you'll get to a point in your studies where diagramming is intuitive enough that writing down the actual diagrams doesn't take all that long.

However, when you read that this is a Main Point question, your job is no longer to determine the relationship between conditionals or to use said conditionals to find an inference, but rather, your job is to identify the conclusion and find the answer that most closely aligns with it!

In order to best be able to identify the correct answer of a Main Point question, here are a few tips:
     Oftentimes, the conclusion is at the beginning or the middle (the beginning in this stimulus), not the very end
     Oftentimes, common indicators (such as "therefore" in this stimulus) are traps
     The correct answer choice will be some way of rephrasing the conclusion itself

But how does one identify a conclusion? In general, you can use conclusion/premise indicators to help (though, as mentioned above, for MP questions specifically indicators are often a trap). Additionally, you can try to ask yourself "what does the author want me to believe?" or use the Conclusion Identification Method. In this method, you take the statements under consideration for the conclusion and place them in such a way that one must be the conclusion and one must be the premise. For example, insert one statement into each of these spots " because ..., one can conclude ...". Then, flip them around! Whichever makes the most logical sense will be your premise and your conclusion, respectively.

I hope this helps
Kate