June 1998 LSAT Section 2 Question 23

Politician: Nobody can deny that homelessness is a problem yet there seems to be little agreement on how to solve ...

zachmorley2 on December 18, 2020

I incorrectly chose A instead of C.

It appears the only difference between A and C is "only if" (A) versus "if" (C). Why is A wrong and C correct? Thank you!

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shunhe on December 21, 2020

Hi @zachmorley2,

Thanks for the question! The sufficient and necessary module will clear up a lot of this, so would highly recommend. But basically, “if” introduces the sufficient condition, and “only if” introduces the necessary condition. So “if you come over, I’ll make dinner” is diagrammed

You come over —> I make dinner

But “only if you come over will I make dinner” is diagrammed

I make dinner —> You come over

And so these are flipped from each other! They don’t say the same thing at all, and here, that’s what makes (C) better than (A).

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