October 2008 LSAT Section 3 Question 17

Real estate agent: Upon selling a home, the sellers are legally entitled to remove any items that are not permanent ...

filozinni on August 19, 2020

Why is A better than B

Could anyone please explain why B is not the correct answer and what makes A a better answer than B? I read the previous threads but I have not yet completely understood. Thanks a lot in advance!

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shunhe on August 20, 2020

Hi @filozinni,

Thanks for the question! So let’s focus in on the conclusion of this passage. The argument tells us that sellers who will be keeping the appliances are morally obliged either to remove them before showing the home or to indicate in some other way that the appliances are not included. This is the conclusion that we’re trying to justify, so the correct answer choice is going to indicate this: sellers who keep the appliances have to remove them or show they’re not included.

So now let’s take a look at (B), which says that the principle that helps us justify this is that a home’s sellers are morally obliged to ensure that prospective buyers of the home don’t assume that any large appliances are permanent fixtures in the home. Does this help us get to the conclusion that sellers who keep the appliances have to remove them or show they’re not included? No, not at all. In fact, if (B) is true, it’s probably the opposite. Since those prospective buyers aren’t assuming the large appliances are included, there’d be no need to remove them, even if there might be a need to show they’re not included. But it’s missing the “remove them” part of the conclusion, and so it doesn’t justify this conclusion. Also, (B) applies to “ANY” large appliances, which would include those the seller isn’t deciding to keep! And that’s not something that needs to be done.

Now take a look at (A), which tells us that if a home’s sellers are keeping anything that the prospective buyers might indicate would be included, they have to indicate clearly that those belongings aren’t included. Well, if this is true, then they either have to take them out, or they have to indicate that they’re not included! And that’s exactly the conclusion that we’re trying to support, which makes (A) the correct answer.

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

filozinni on August 20, 2020

Thank you for the explanation @Shunhe!

shunhe on August 20, 2020

No problem, glad you found it helpful!