Most people in the United States view neither big nor small business as particularly efficient or dynamic and regard ...

Naz November 22, 2013

Remember that Must Be True questions are one of the few question on the LSAT that have a check system. The correct answer will be 100% supported by the passage. Here we are presented with a set of facts.

Let's take a look at the answer choices:

(A) is incorrect because it is not 100% supported by the passage. The passage never discusses the overall value of business to society. We are given the perception of most people in the United States towards small business and big business, but not business as a whole.

(B) is incorrect because it is not 100% supported by the passage. We know that most people in the United States view neither big nor small business as particularly efficient. The passage, however, does not delve into what would happen if big business were more or less efficient.

(C) is incorrect because it is not 100% supported by the passage. As with answer choice (B), we know from the passage that most people in the United States view neither big nor small business as particularly dynamic. The passage, however, does not delve into what would happen if small business were more or less dynamic.

(D) is incorrect because it is not 100% supported by the passage. The passage tells us that mot people in the United States regard both big and small business as providing consumers with fairly priced goods and services. However, the passage does not tell us what would happen if people did not regard big business as providing consumers with value for their money. Thus, the passage does not 100% support the statement: "Even if people did not regard big business as providing consumers with value for their money, they would still regard it as socially responsible in times of general prosperity."

(E) is CORRECT because it is 100% supported by the passage. The passage tells us that most people in the United States regard both big and small business "as providing consumers with fairly priced goods and services." It also tells us that "most people consistently perceive small business as a force for good in society, whereas big business is perceived as socially responsible only in times of prosperity." Therefore, if both are providing consumers with fairly priced goods and services, but small business is perceived as socially responsible, but big business is not, then big business is missing something. Therefore, it must be true that some (remember, many = some) people in the United States regard the social responsibility of big business as extending beyond providing consumers with fairly priced goods and services.

Hope that was helpful! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

TheFacu April 8, 2015

What if choice E didnt include the word "only" like in the passage?

Naz April 14, 2015

I'm not sure I understand your question. Choice (E) does not contain the word "only."

Advaith August 10, 2015

Thanks for the explanation

kdehoyos July 21, 2018

is there not a set up for this question

Mehran July 23, 2018

Hi @kdehoyos, thanks for your post, but we don't understand what you mean by "set up." Feel free to clarify and we will do our best to help you out. Thanks.

kdehoyos July 23, 2018

With this question specifically, was there not a way to set up x-some-y etc....

With MBT questions in general,do we just have to review each answer choice and compare to the passage to find which one is 100 percent supported?? Since most are fact based and not arguments.

I'm having trouble setting up MBT questions

Mehran July 25, 2018

@kdehoyos it really depends on the question. If there are sufficient and necessary conditions and/or quantifiers, you definitely want to spend the time to extract the logic from the stimulus by diagramming.

Here, you have quantifiers so you could have diagrammed the "most" statements but the correct answer here is coming directly from the statement, "big business is perceived as socially responsible only in times of prosperity" (which could also be diagrammed since "only" introduces a necessary condition).

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

leighcwest August 23, 2018

@mehran, Im very confused here. Its just not clicking for me here. Can you explain further why answer choice e is correct and how we got there.