June 2008 LSAT Section 3 Question 3

Which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the dancers any one of whom could be off stage when Jac...

Milica Gligic on December 15, 2019

Why is choice D not correct?

The question states:"Which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the dancers any one of whom could be off stage when Jaclyn is on stage?" If J si on stage then G and F must be on stage,and L must be off stage. This means that H and K could be off/on stage but L must be off stage. I did realize that only possibilities for the dancers off stage are LH/LK/LHK. Each of these could be complete and accurate lists of dancers off stage in a specific scenario. Because choice C and E were both true according to this interpretation of a question, I went with D...taking the question to mean which one lists all dancers which could (not must) be off stage if J is on stage. I am not a native speaker,so could you please help me understand why my interpretation of the question is wrong and how can I make sure not to make the same mistake in the future. Thanks a lot!

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AndreaK on December 16, 2019

Hi @Milica Gligic,

No worries! You seem like you understand how to get to the answer, which is what counts. You're right about the LH/LK/LHK breakdowns, and that each could be a complete and accurate list if it were its own scenario. However, this question stem refers to all possible scenarios. Let's break that down.

Which one of the following is A COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LIST of the dancers *any of whom* COULD be off stage when Jaclyn is on stage?

"... a complete and accurate list of dancers, any of whom could" tells us that the answer we want to choose will have all of the possible dancers (complete and accurate list) that could possibly be off stage in a world where all we know is Jaclyn is on.

You're right - because of rule one we know that Lorna MUST be off. So, if she must be off, that means she's on our list because if you must be off, inherently that means you've already fulfilled the requirement for "could" be off. Because of the contrapositive of rule three, we know that F must be on and because of rule 4 (and the fact J is a woman) we know G must be on. That leaves K and H, which could swing either way. Therefore, it's true that they could be off with L. Therefore, in order to form a complete and accurate list of all the dancers that could be off when J is on, we must include all three of those players, which is why E is our answer here.

Hope this helps, and feel free to let me know if you have any more questions about this one!