City official: Landowners must clear the snow from the sidewalks along the edge of their property by 24 hours after ...

shunhe on April 5, 2020

Hi @rlquerubin,

Thanks for the question! You’re right that (A) does imply that all homeowners will receive citations. Let’s take a look back at the stimulus: we’re told that “All landowners whose sidewalks have not been cleared within 48 hours of the end of a snowstorm will receive citations, which always result in fines unless the landowners can demonstrate extenuating circumstances.” The issue here is that although all people who don’t clear their sidewalk within 48 hours of the end of a snowstorm will receive citations, it is not true that all people who receive citations will be fined. If people can demonstrate extenuating circumstances, they will still receive a citation, but they won’t receive an accompanying fine. The “unless” condition applies to the statement about the fines, not about receiving citations. Thus, if (A) had read that the owner will definitely be fined, it would be false. But instead, (A) reads that the owner will be billed for the service (true because the city cleared their sidewalk for them), and they will receive a citation (true, because all landowners who didn’t clear within 48 hours will receive citations, though not necessarily true that all of those people will receive fines because they might have extenuating circumstances).

(D) is incorrect because it isn’t necessarily true that nearly all landowners who do not clear their sidewalks within 48 hours after the end of a snowstorm will be fined. Although it’s probable, it’s not a logical necessity like (A) is. Perhaps, for example, a quarantine in response to a pandemic counts as an extenuating circumstance that excuses all landowners from the fine.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.