LSAT 89, Logical Reasoning II, Q13, LSATHacks

LR Question 13 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Mayor: Some residents complain that the city has no right…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

CONCLUSION: The residents who are complaining are wrong.

REASONING: Some residents say the city has no right to make homeowners connect to city water services, even though the city does so for health and safety. But the homeowners will be charged a fair price, and all residents benefit because the city is a healthier and safer place to live.

ANALYSIS: The mayor is concluding that the residents are wrong – that is, the city does have a right to require homeowners to connect to city water services.

The mayor’s evidence is that homeowners are charged a fair price, and that all residents benefit because the city is cleaner and safer. We need a principle that grants the city the right based on this evidence.

___________

1. CORRECT. This is exactly what we wanted. The mayor says the city has the right because it charges a fair price and benefits all the residents.
2. It’s not a question of what a city should do, it’s what the city has the right to do. You want to match the wording as closely as possible.
3. This is the opposite of what we want. We want to conclude that the city has the right, we don’t care what conditions make the city not have the right.
4. We aren’t talking about whether residents have the right to complain. We want to give the city the right to require them to connect.
5. This is way off. We want a conditional statement that tells us the city has the right to require homeowners to connect, based on what we’ve been told. This tells us that connecting allows the city to increase revenue and make itself safer by connecting.

Recap: The question begins with “Mayor: Some residents complain that the city has no right”. It is a Principle question. Learn how to master LSAT Principle questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

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