LSAT 128 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q3

LR Question 3 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: If Patricia eats a heavy, spicy meal tonight …

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: If Patricia eats a heavy and spicy meal tonight, she’ll be grouchy tomorrow morning.

REASONING:

1. If she eats a heavy spicy meal tonight -> she’ll get heartburn later
2. If she gets heartburn later -> she’ll be grouchy tomorrow morning

ANALYSIS: This is a classic conditional chain:

1. If A -> B
2. If B -> C
3. Therefore, if A -> C

This is a completely valid, logical chain that you’ll see fairly often on the LSAT. You want to look for an answer that follows the same structure and logic.

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1. Just because no flowers bloomed does not necessarily mean that Ruth planted only daffodils. Something else could have caused the lack of flowers. This is the structure here, which does not match:

   1. If A -> B
   2. If B -> C
   3. C is observed, therefore A.

2. This also does not follow the same structure. This says:

   1. If A -> B
   2. If B -> C
   3. There’s NOT C, so either NOT A or NOT B.

3. This doesn’t match either. This is C’s structure:

   1. A or B
   2. A -> C
   3. B -> D
   4. Therefore, either C or D.

4. CORRECT. This matches exactly.

   1. If A (old rose varieties) -> B (garden looks beautiful)
   2. If B -> C (neighbors impressed)
   3. Therefore, if A -> C (if she plants old rose varieties, her neighbors will be impressed).

5. This also follows a different structure:

   1. If A -> B OR C
   2. A is true, but not B, so therefore C.