The author uses the word "immediacy" (line 39) most likely in order to express

shunhe on May 28, 2020

Hi @MeaghanRose,

Thanks for the question! So “or” in the LSAT is used in a very peculiar way. To step back a bit: in ordinary language, we use “or” in two different ways. There’s an inclusive or, and an exclusive or. Take the following two questions that you might here at a cafe:

Would you like tea or coffee?
Would you like cream or sugar?

In the first question, the “exclusive” or is (generally) being used. You can pick one or the other, but not both. Similarly, in sentences like “She’s in the office or in the bathroom,” it’s only true that she’s in one of those places.

In the second question, the “inclusive” or is being used, since you can respond that you want both cream and sugar. Both conditions can be “true”; similarly, if I said I want a car that is black or is electric, if you gave me a car that was both black and electric, you would have satisfied my requirements—I’m not asking for a car that is black but not electric, or a car that is electric but not black. I would be perfectly fine if both of those things were a feature of my car.

The LSAT uses the word “or” in this second sense, the inclusive sense. The example the instructor uses might be a bit strange, but it certainly works—you can certainly love someone and leave them alone (maybe after a fight with a spouse or sibling). The point is that on the LSAT, “X or Y” is true if X is true, if Y is true, or if X and Y are both true. “X or Y” is only false when both X and Y are false.

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