LR Question 12 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Dried parsley should never be used in cooking, for it…
QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Strengthen
CONCLUSION: Dried parsley shouldn’t be used in cooking.
REASONING: Dried parsley isn’t as tasty or healthy as fresh parsley.
ANALYSIS: This is a good argument for using fresh parsley rather than dried parsley. But the conclusion says that dried parsley should never be used in cooking.
That doesn’t make sense. Maybe dried parsley should be used if there is no fresh parsley available.
To support the conclusion, you need a reason that you shouldn’t use dried parsley in cooking, ever.
___________
- This doesn’t tell us not to use dried parsley even if there is no fresh parsley available.
- CORRECT. This does it. Dried parsley is not the tastiest ingredient, so it should never be used.
- This doesn’t help us conclude that dried parsley should never be used in cooking. It’s just a general statement about ingredients we already know shouldn’t be used.
- We know fresh parsley is more tasty. But that doesn’t mean that dried parsley is completely lacking in taste. Something can still taste good even if another food tastes better.
- We already knew dried parsley is inferior. It doesn’t matter if this is true of other foods as well.
More Resources for Principle Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Principle questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers principle questions.
Hi Graeme,
For this choice, B and D seem to work. I cannot think of why D does NOT work. Can you please explain?
This is a relative vs. absolute issue. The stimulus didn’t say dried parsley tastes bad. It said it *doesn’t taste as good* as fresh parsley.
D supports not using stuff that tastes bad, but we don’t know if that applies to dried parsley. Does that make sense?
Hi Graeme, I was just wondering why the correct answer contains only the “tasty” aspect of the stimulus, and not the healthy part? I was under the impression that answers that do not include all aspects of the stimulus are wrong. I was just hoping for some clarification of this please!
No, that’s not the case. Suppose I say: this house is not the best house in the area and it is not the best insulated.
And then a principle says “never buy a house unless it is the best insulated in the area”. If we combine that with the facts it is fully sufficient to disqualify the house, even though the principle does not mention anything about the other factor (how nice the house is).
There’s no requirement to match every element. Many lsat question stems just ask for the best answer, which includes the possibility the answer isn’t exhaustive.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.