LSAT 152 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q21

LR Question 21 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: If you use a wood stove to heat your home …

QUESTION TYPE: Identify the Conclusion

CONCLUSION: You should use a wood-pellet stove to heat your home, not a regular wood stove.

REASONING: They’re better for the environment.

ANALYSIS: The argument starts with the recommendation. If you use a wood stove for heat, use a wood-pellet stove. Not a regular one.

The rest of the argument supports that recommendation. Regular wood stoves cause more trees to be cut down whereas wood pellets are made from products that would otherwise go to landfills. So wood-pellet stoves are better for the environment.

That environmental claim is important, but it’s not the overall conclusion. It’s an intermediate conclusion: it’s supported by the facts about trees, and then used to support the final recommendation.

The recommendation is the conclusion: choose wood-pellet stoves.

___________

1. This is a premise. The author uses this fact to explain why wood-pellet stoves do not require more trees to be cut down.
2. See above. It’s an intermediate conclusion. It’s supported by the tree-felling comparison and then used to support the author’s recommendation.
3. Also a premise. It supports the claim that wood-pellet stoves are better for the environment.
4. Also a premise. It supports the environmental comparison between regular wood stoves and wood-pellet stoves.
5. CORRECT. This is the conclusion. The author’s ultimate point is that people who use wood stoves should use wood-pellet stoves instead of regular ones.