LR Question 12 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: One should apologize only to a person one has wronged…
QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported
FACTS:
- Apologize ➞ say it to person you wronged AND make apology for wronging them
- Apologize sincerely ➞ acknowledge wrong AND not repeat wrong
- Sincerely accept ➞ acknowledge wrong AND no grudge
ANALYSIS: I’ve drawn the facts as conditional diagrams. You can’t really connect them together, beyond what I already did.
One important point is that this question talks about sincerely giving an apology, and sincerely accepting an apology.
They’re different things, but related in that they’re sincere. They also both require acknowledging a wrong was done. The right answer checks if you noticed this overlap.
So while this seems like a diagramming question, you can’t really solve it with traditional diagramming connections. Fewer modern LR questions test your diagramming skills.
___________
- A sincere apology only requires that you intend not to repeat the act. It’s possible to intend not to do something and then later fail to keep your intention.
- There are only two conditions for sincerely accepting an apology: acknowledge the wrong and vow not to hold a grudge.
- The first sentence gives necessary conditions for apologizing. The stimulus never gives us any sufficient conditions. Only a sufficient condition would let us say we should apologize.
- The stimulus doesn’t say anything this. There are necessary conditions for offering an apology, but being sure that the apology will be accepted is not one of those conditions.
- CORRECT. This is true. The necessary conditions for offering an apology and accepting an apology both include acknowledging a wrong.
More Resources for Most Strongly Supported Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Most Strongly Supported questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers most strongly supported questions.
I appreciate all these thoughtful, helpful replies! Makes this journey a bit easier. Keep up the great work.
I got this one right but it was a total time suck. It seemed like a question to diagram, but that takes way too long. It was tricky just finding reasonable abbreviations. I started with A for apologize, but then realized multiple terms start with A (Apologize, Acknowledge, Accept), so I had to add letters, and it just went downhill from there.
For me, this seems like one where you just need to abandon the diagram and see if any answers match with an understanding.
Also, a question about diagramming, I see Graeme frequently write out phrases when diagramming (e.g. “say it to person wrong”). That seems like it’s way too time-consuming to do in practice. And yet, the specificity of the stimulus makes it risky at first to rely on abbreviations.
Your intuition is right, as is addressed in Graeme’s explanation. Diagramming is less useful with newer tests, and especially in timed conditions it is more of a tool if you’re struggling than a required step you must take. Most people generally shouldn’t start diagramming right after reading a question unless you know it’ll help.
It is, however, important to diagram in untimed conditions to get good at it. It’ll take time. No one is fast at diagramming automatically (or at least very few people are). This is also when you’ll personalize your abbreviation style. There’s no clear answer to this, it’s up to personal preference and the question. The most important part is that YOU know what each condition/variable refers to. As you noted above, if you’re confusing what A is referring to, that’s bad. It should be immediately clear to you what it refers to. Graeme’s abbreviations are sometimes longer here for clarity’s sake than they would be if he was solving it for himself. It doesn’t matter what your abbreviations are so long as they’re understandable to you.
Just anecdotally, I’d say I probably diagrammed once, maybe twice, across 2 LR sections on the real LSAT. Again, this will differ from person to person, but yes you won’t have much time to diagram or really the urge to. Practicing diagramming in untimed practice is also crucial because it allows you to see patterns and therefore actually make the connections intuitive without needing to diagram. Hope that helps!