LSAT 138 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q25

RC Question 25 Explanation

DISCUSSION: If you read the area in the third sentence of the first paragraph of passage B, you’ll see that some houses are being ‘selectively’ chosen as an example for the others.

That’s closest to answer D, ‘discretionary’. Discretion means you have a choice. Officials are choosing which houses they cut water to.

Remember that you have to read the relevant section of passage A to get the meaning of the word in the answer choice. Several of these words have multiple definitions.

___________

1. In this case, particularly means ‘thoroughly’.
2. In this case, probability means ‘likelihood’
3. In this case, alternative means another option.
4. CORRECT. Discretionary means that officials have a choice in who to prosecute, just as officials have a choice in whose water they shut off.
5. Capricious means a sudden change in mood or behavior. In the case of enforcement, it would mean random enforcement, rather than rational discretionary enforcement.