Sufficient & Necessary Questions - - Question 12

Book Review:  When I read a novel set in a city I know well, I must see that the writer knows the city at least as we...

Karlie July 7, 2020

Setting up the passage principles

I was hoping I could get some clarification on the first principle of the passage. I assumed that since "when" was the first word of the passage that introduced the sufficient condition of "Writer knows city well" instead of "TWS". I did not think the if in the middle of the sentence was the start of the s & n statement. Also How come while diagramming the storyteller and novelist were classified as two different people?

Replies
Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Crook July 11, 2020

I have the exact same questions!

Victoria July 17, 2020

Hi @Karlie and @Crook,

Happy to help!

Sometimes the LSAT will try to trick you. Here, the intro "when I read a novel set in a city I know well..." is merely meant to introduce the S&N claim, not be a part of it. We could rewrite the sentence as follows:

"If I am to take a writer seriously, then they must demonstrate that they know the city setting of their novel at least as well as I do."

If there are multiple S&N indicator words used in one sentence in a stimulus, try rearranging the different parts of the sentence to see which makes the most sense. If you can remove one part of the sentence, then it definitely shouldn't be part of your diagram.

As for your second question, I'm unsure where you're seeing that the storyteller and the novelist were treated as two different people, but they shouldn't be. Writer, storyteller, and novelist are all interchangeable in this passage.

Hope this helps clear things up a bit! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Ryn November 17, 2021

ok so now what is the explanation for this sentence " When a novelist demonstrates the required knowledge, I trust the storyteller, so I trust the tale."? you all didn't even diagram the "when" part as the sufficient when there are not eve two sufficient indicator words in the sentence.