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Auty December 18, 2019

How do we break down general principle in "E" on Q9?

PR: "...for a country to be democratic, the opinion of each of its citizens must have a meaningful effect on government..." PR: D -> OME; /OME -> /D Knowing ahead that "...for a country to be democratic..." is the sufficient condition, why in fact, is it the case? Does the word "for" act like "if", and indicate sufficiency? Or, is the word "for" a non-factor, and since "must" is included in the second half of the segment (i.e. "...the opinion of each of its citizens MUST have a meaningful effect on government...), we can be sure given the conclusion and premise in other parts of the stimulus, that "...for a country to be democratic..." is merely the other part of this interwoven segment, and is therefore the sufficient portion of this condition?

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BenMingov December 18, 2019

Hi Auty, thanks for the question.

Note that in answer choice E, the word "for" acts much the same way as the term "in order to". "In order to" indicates sufficiency in the exact same way as "if".

E.g. In order to jump, you have to bend your knees.

J - > BK
Not BK - > Not J

E.g. If you jump, you have to bend your knees

J - > BK
Not BK - > Not J

Keep in mind, if we were using the word "Must" to figure out the necessary vs sufficient in this case. It would look like: Citizen - > Meaningful effect on gov

Conditional statements won't always be stated as beautifully as "if...then", so this is good practice for identifying the trickier formations!

Please let me know if you have any other questions and if this was helpful!