LR Question 23 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Maria won this year’s local sailboat race by beating…
QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption
CONCLUSION: Maria trained hard.
REASONING: Maria beat Sue, the winner of the last four races.
ANALYSIS: This is a bad argument. We don’t know how many people were in the race, how well Sue performed, if Sue’s boat sank, etc. We don’t even know if training is even necessary for a sailboat race.
The correct answer shows that training is a necessary condition for winning.
___________
- This could mean that neither of them trained hard.
- This doesn’t tell us that if Maria won the boat race then she trained hard.
- CORRECT. The only way to win was to train hard. And Maria did win. So Maria must have trained hard.
- This definitely doesn’t tell us whether Maria trained hard.
- This doesn’t have anything to do with training.
More Resources for Sufficient Assumption Questions
- Conditional Reasoning Article: Learn about conditional statements.
- LR Diagrams Guide: Learn how to draw LR diagrams.
- Intro to Conditional Reasoning: Learn conditional reasoning basics.
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Sufficient Assumption questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers sufficient assumption questions.
I got the answer correct, however I want to be sure my reasoning is correct.
B. States training as a sufficient condition. It is not required, it would simply be enough.
C. States training as a necessary condition, and we’re looking for necessary as it guarantees training to happen.
Right?
Yes, your reasoning is correct!