No projects that involve historical restorations were granted building permits this month. Since some of the current ...

Ravi January 26, 2019

@Briana-Smiley,

Great question. The stimulus tells us that no projects that involve
historical restorations were granted building permits this month.

hr - >/granted

We're then told that some of the current projects of the firm of Stein
and Sapin are historical restorations

SS - some - hr

The argument then concludes that at least some of Stein and Sapin's
projects were not granted building permits this month

SS - some - /granted

This is a valid argument. The full structure is

SS - some - hr - >/granted

Therefore, SS - some - /granted

The question stem asks us to find a pattern of reasoning in the answer
choices that most closely mirrors what we've identified in the
stimulus.

You asked about (B). (B) says that none of the news reports from the
economic summit meeting have been encouraging.

News reports - ->/encouraging

We're then told that since some other recent economic reports have
showed positive trends, however, at least some of the economic news is
encouraging at this time.

See the problem with this second sentence? We need it to say something
that will allow us to link it with news reports from the economic
summit meeting

We need

X - some - -News reports - >/encouraging

But we're not getting something that links up to news reports. The
second sentence is bringing in a new type of economic report that we
cannot link to the conditional statement of the first sentence, so
this doesn't match the argument structure of the stimulus.

Let's look at (D). (D) says that several films directed by Hannah
Baker were released this season

HB - some - released

(D) then says that none of the films released this season were
enthusiastically reviewed

released - >/ER

(D) concludes that at least some of Hannah Barker's films have not
received enthusiastic reviews

HB - some - /ER

The full structure is

HB - some - released - >/ER

Therefore, HB - some - /ER

This is a valid argument form that matches the structure of the
stimulus, so this is the correct answer. The key to getting (D) right
is to recognize that they're giving us all of the relevant
information, but they're presenting it in a different order from how
we get it in the stimulus. The stimulus starts with the 'no'
statement, whereas (D) begins with the quantifier statement. However,
they're just doing this to try to confuse us, and once we put the
whole argument of (D) together, it perfectly matches the one in the
stimulus.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!

Silvia August 9, 2019

I am a bit confused about how "several" is considered some? I interpreted it as, "Hannah directed films and they were released" not "some of Hannah's films were released", Hannah could have directed a total of 2 films and they were all released. Going forward, is "several" synonymous to "some" ?

Gozi December 4, 2019

I have the same question as Silvia here, who has not gotten an answer yet.

mprezzy January 1, 2020

Please be so kind to explain why "several" is "some". Thank you!

Shirnel April 1, 2020

I am not a lecturer but my understanding of this is anything that doesn't say or assume "more than half" like "the majority" or "most" assumes "some." So the determiner some = at least one / many / several / possible all/ a considerable amount / at least a small amount et al.

Jermaine1 May 5, 2020

I can second this as well, through readings and videos it seems that if you cannot assume it is more than half consider it a "some" statement in this context.

Silvia May 20, 2020

Sorry for my late reply, thank you both! That's very helpful to remember!