LSAT 149 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q11

LR Question 11 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Lecturer: If I say, “I tried to get my work done on time”…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. The words “I tried to get my work finished on time” don’t literally mean: “I failed to finish”.
2. But, that’s what people understand them to mean.
3. If you finished, you would instead say “I finished!”.
4. This indirect meaning is how conversation works.

ANALYSIS: This is the most meta question I’ve ever seen on LR. Most LSAT questions do the opposite this one: they violate the normal rules of conversation and ask you to focus on the literal meaning of words, rather than what people usually mean when they talk (non-literally).

Anyway, I’d say the biggest thing we can draw from this question is that you can’t just rely on the literal meaning of words to understand conversations. (In real life, not on the LSAT.)

___________

1. CORRECT. This is true. If we only understood the meanings of words, we would misunderstand what people meant when they said “I tried to finish on time”. The literal meaning focusses on effort, the intended meaning implies the person failed.
2. This is the opposite of the lecturer’s meaning. They said “this is how conversation works”, which implies that their example using “tried” is common.
3. This answer is true, but it isn’t related to what the lecturer said. Nonverbal cues are part of body language: you have to see or hear someone speak to understand.
    
   Whereas, the professor’s example would work just as well in interpreting text messages, where there are no verbal cues.
4. This isn’t so. The lecturer implied that someone who said the first sentence meant to convey the additional information left unstated. So speakers convey exactly what they intend to.
5. This is crazy. The lecturer didn’t say anything complicated. Anyone fluent in English understands what someone means if they say “I tried to finish on time”. The professor said: this is how conversation works. It’s definitely reasonable to expect people to have basic conversational skills.

Recap: The question begins with “Lecturer: If I say, “I tried to get my work done on time””. It is a Most Strongly Supported question. Learn how to master LSAT MSS questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.