Political scientist: All governments worthy of respect allow their citizens to dissent from governmental policies. N...
April 18, 2024
Diagramming Negative Statements
I arrived at the correct answer here but it took a long time and I was insecure about my choice. I am having trouble diagramming negative sentences correctly. Initially, I was converting them into positives but my diagrams were wrong. I will write a few negative sentences with a diagram and would appreciate it if an instructor checks my diagrams and corrects them. Here they are:
"No government worthy of respect leaves minorities unprotected."
GWR--->Not MU
"No jazz musician is incapable of reading music."
JM--->Not IRM
"No ecosystems populated by large mammals have abundant and varied plant life."
EPLM--->Not AVPL
"No cat can be expected to not catch a mouse."
C--->Not ENCM
Please advise. Thank you.
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I think the key thing to consider is what guarantees what. This is a supplement to how the lessons teach it, but I think it's a really useful check.
So for your first example, your diagram is spot on. The statement guarantees that a government that is worthy of respect will never infringe minority rights.
B is the same, being the former means one would never fail to do the latter thing. Note that we could also diagram this as all JM -> RM
Your third example is tougher, but let's look at what is guaranteed. We are told that all ecosystems with large mammals do not have abundant plants. That looks right by your diagram .
Finally I think your final diagram is right as well, although it might be easier to to remove the double negative in your necessary condition and just make it CM
