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Daily Drills 3 - Section 3 - Question 2

Select the answer choice that correctly diagrams the following Sufficient & Necessary statement:"The only people ...

lisayeh December 8, 2018

“Only” and “The only”

Why the only introduces a sufficient condition? What's the difference between only and the only? Thanks!

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Jacob-R December 13, 2018

Good question @lisayeh! Let’s examine why “only” by itself introduces a necessary condition while “the only” introduces a sufficient condition.

“Only”:

Only studying leads to a better LSAT score.

If better LSAT score -> studying.

(Note why this is true — you could study, and still not get enough sleep before the day of exam, and so not get a better LSAT! Remember to rest! But the point is we know that you studied if you got the better LSAT score as a necessary condition.)

“The only”

Chocolate is the only type of cake that I like.

If type of cake that I like (what followed “the only”) -> chocolate.

If it’s not chocolate, then it’s not a type of cake that I like (contrapositive — and this makes intuitive sense because chocolate is “the only” cake that I like!)

If you want further examples, @Mehran wrote a blog post on this issue available at https://testmaxprep.com/blog/lsat/the-only-vs-only.

I hope that helps. Please let us know if you have further questions.

sarahmadelinesantos November 8, 2019

Super helpful explanation, thank you!