LSAT 31, Logical Reasoning II, Q15, LSATHacks

LR Question 15 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Ashley: Words like “of” and “upon,” unlike “pencil”…

QUESTION TYPE: Misinterpretation

ARGUMENTS: Ashley notes that some words do not refer to anything and some words do refer to things.

Josh misinterprets her as saying that words that do not refer to anything are meaningless. He concludes that we should get rid of such words. 

ANALYSIS: It’s important to know what words Ashley is referring to. She is talking about the words that do not refer to anything specific (e.g. of, upon.) She mentions pencil and shirt only for the sake of comparison. 

Joshua’s misinterpretation is to think she meant those were meaningless because they don’t refer to anything. But “of” definitely means something!

___________

1. CORRECT. Joshua mistakenly thinks that “of” is meaningless. Someone should buy him a dictionary. 
2. Ashley didn’t say anything about words not being useful. Technically neither did Joshua. 
3. No. Ashley was referring specifically to the words that don’t refer to anything. Joshua expressed agreement that “such words” are meaningless. 
4. Same as B. Neither of them mentioned the usefulness of words. Joshua implies that the words are useless, but he is going one step further than he thought Ashley was saying.
5. Joshua was only expressing a strong opinion on words that do not refer to anything. 

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