If the flowers Drew received today had been sent by someone who knows Drew well, that person would have known that Dr...

Victoria on September 14, 2020

Hi @maonuo,

Thanks for your question.

We are looking for the answer choice which weakens the argument. Remember that there are two ways to weaken an argument: (1) show that a premise given in support of the conclusion is false; or (2) show that the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises, even if all those premises are true. The second is far more likely to be the case on the LSAT.

What is the conclusion here? The florist must have made a mistake.

Why must the florist have made a mistake? They must have either messed up Drew's delivery or they delivered flowers to Drew that were intended for someone else.

Why must this be the case? There are two possibilities.

Option 1: the flowers were sent by someone who knows Drew well.

If this were the case, then Drew would have received violets instead of roses.

Option 2: the flowers were sent by someone who does not know Drew well.

If this were the case, Drew would have received a card, but Drew did not receive a card.

So, we are looking for an answer choice which weakens the conclusion that the florist must have made a mistake.

Answer choice (B) is correct because it means that the florist did their job properly. If someone sent flowers to Drew for a reason other than the desire to please, then it makes sense that they did not send Drew's favourite flowers and that they did not want to attach their name to it. Maybe Drew is allergic to roses. Maybe roses make Drew angry. Whatever the reason, it no longer allows us to properly draw the conclusion that the florist made a mistake.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.