LSAT 70, Logical Reasoning II, Q21

QUESTION TEXT: Editor: Most of the books of fiction…

QUESTION TYPE: Must Be True

FACTS:

1. Published book ➞ literary agent submission OR manuscript request
2. Serious attention ➞ Renowned figure OR Requested manuscript after review of proposal

Note: The first sentence has a most statement. I didn’t draw it, because it doesn’t link up with anything. Meanwhile, I combined the two facts in the first sentence into fact 1 above.

ANALYSIS: Imagine this as a real world situation. How does a book get published? The publisher gets interested somehow and gets a manuscript. If they like it, they publish it. So, the first step is the manuscript. The second step is publication:

1. Manuscript: Renowned, or requested
2. Published: Literary agent, or requested

So requests are an important part of the system. You can only sidestep a request by being renowned, and then by having your literary agent submit.

___________

1. Hard to say. Maybe most unrequested manuscripts come from renowned figures.
2. The first sentence talks about publishing. We’re not told if most books are fiction. The renowned author reference is just there to confuse you: renowned authors were mentioned in the second sentence, and not in reference to publishing.
3. The second sentence describes when a book will get careful attention. That sentence never mentions whether fiction is an important factor.
4. Literary agents are only mentioned in the first sentence, in reference to publishing. The stimulus doesn’t say whether literary agents are a major factor in attracting careful attention. If the publishing house requested a manuscript from a writer then the publishing house might give it very serious attention even without an agent.
5. CORRECT. A manuscript needs serious consideration to be published. If the manuscript was unrequested, the the author needs renown to get attention.

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