OOOOOH, I am so thankful for this lesson. I have been studying for the LSAT for about a year now, and didn't even realize I was making this mistake until just now.
For question 2, I thought "their" refers to only "most consumers". It actually refers to the whole phrase---"most consumers of lemon soda". Paying attention to the modifier is so important. "Most consumers" is NOT the same thing as "most consumers of lemon soda". This refers to 2 different groups of people! "Most consumers of lemon soda" is a subset of "most consumers".
I think my main takeaway from this exercise is not to get every detail perfect (i.e. not identifying every single referential / pronouns / etc.) but to get accustomed to seeing how they are interwoven in COMPLEX ways into sentences.
A big part of the test seems to be knowing how and in what ways they are going to try and trap us or mix us up.
Q1 is just plain wrong in the written explanation. Even if "It" could be defined to be a referential phrase, it is not at all referring to "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria". It is, in a sense, a "dummy" pronoun used to fill the gap of needing a subject for the sentence. It doesn't refer to anything, but rather is just a placeholder. Using JY's logic expressed in past explanations, replacing "It" with "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria" would yield this sentence: "Keeping deep wounds free of bacteria is difficult to keep deep wounds free of bacteria", which makes no sense. Also, "that" is another referential phrase that is not identified within Q1.
This was very helpful, however, one thing I am consistently struggling with is reading the passages faster while still taking in all the necessary information. Does anyone have tips on what's helped them do this?
The first question in this one is the same as the last one. However in the first one "It" is a referential to "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria." Why is it not the case in the first question on this skill builder as well now?
@lesteryxue @teaganneumann I think it's just a modifier here. It wasn't covered in the lesson but conjunctions (such as and) are used to join clauses among other things. If we break down the first sentence there are two clauses that could be read as individual sentences if we wanted.
The first clause reads
Economic considerations color every aspect of international dealings.
The second clause reads
Nations are just like individuals in that the lender sets the terms of its dealings with the borrower.
This second clause broken down into it down into its basics the sentence would be
Nations are just like individuals.
The subject is "nations".
The predicate verb is "are just like".
The predicate object is "individuals".
Why are nations just like individuals? They set the terms of their deals with the borrower.
That is just modifying the predicate to give more context, not referring back to that first clause. A good tip to figure out if it's truly referential or not is if the "that" in question makes sense without what you think it is referring to. The second clause makes sense without the first, so the "that" in the second clause isn't going to be referential.
@esimone98 use the same strategy you did as the modifiers. Like always be on the lookout to see if anything will be referenced. For example, let's use this statement "The blue Tiger loves climbing on the tall tree in the zoo in the city of Michigan". Now in this sentence you can definitely tell what is modifying what, but let's change the statement a-bit to this, "The blue Tiger that loves climbing on the tall tree in the zoo in the city of Michigan", in this second example, the word that is a referential which is referencing the blue tiger "THAT" loves climbing, it more like an explanation of what was initially introduced to us so take a good look at Q5, it explained about the willingness, but when you continue the sentence, you intuitively know what is being talked about you already saw the modifiers in the first sentence and you then understand what is going on and what is being explained is the "willingness to tell the funny joke", so the words "this willingness references the easy willingness to tell funny stories or jokes about oneself is the surest mark of supreme self-confidence. Always look out for the pronouns in these statements, I hope I explained in easier.
For Q3 what would be the subject and predicate. I am trying to get in the habit of doing it for every question I see but I'm stumped here can anyone help me?
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173 comments
NUTS only 4/5. I thought Q4 was a trick question without referentials. Overthought again.
I thought I was lost but turn out I'm not that lost lol 4/5
OOOOOH, I am so thankful for this lesson. I have been studying for the LSAT for about a year now, and didn't even realize I was making this mistake until just now.
For question 2, I thought "their" refers to only "most consumers". It actually refers to the whole phrase---"most consumers of lemon soda". Paying attention to the modifier is so important. "Most consumers" is NOT the same thing as "most consumers of lemon soda". This refers to 2 different groups of people! "Most consumers of lemon soda" is a subset of "most consumers".
Yay!
We got this
rip to my practice test
this was so confusing.
@leilei Right, I'm getting it but only half way
I think my main takeaway from this exercise is not to get every detail perfect (i.e. not identifying every single referential / pronouns / etc.) but to get accustomed to seeing how they are interwoven in COMPLEX ways into sentences.
A big part of the test seems to be knowing how and in what ways they are going to try and trap us or mix us up.
@AlexB33 I agree, most of the answers can be debated for longer than it would take to simply identify the theme and message of the phrase.
For 3, wouldn’t the first referential be “successful economies” not just “economies”
@dancingqueen138 no, because it's the economies that train as many people as possible... that are the most successful
Q1 is just plain wrong in the written explanation. Even if "It" could be defined to be a referential phrase, it is not at all referring to "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria". It is, in a sense, a "dummy" pronoun used to fill the gap of needing a subject for the sentence. It doesn't refer to anything, but rather is just a placeholder. Using JY's logic expressed in past explanations, replacing "It" with "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria" would yield this sentence: "Keeping deep wounds free of bacteria is difficult to keep deep wounds free of bacteria", which makes no sense. Also, "that" is another referential phrase that is not identified within Q1.
@S123L123 In Q1, what makes "that" a referential phrase instead of a modifier?
I notice that I get part of the answer and miss the others in each question.
4/5
ohhh ok so I can't comprehend grammar..great LOL
@Bayside there with you! haha
3/5
For question 2 I also noted "the colouring" as a referential to lemon soda. Can this also be counted as a referential?
Why did i bomb this??????????? I'm overthinking this way to much
I got all of them right except I forgot that "it" and "its" are referentials
I struggled with these the most.
“ These” referent is referentials LOL Enough but seriously I need more practice with these.
alright I have hit a wall. this is probably the hardest part this whole grammar thing for me to understand.
This was very helpful, however, one thing I am consistently struggling with is reading the passages faster while still taking in all the necessary information. Does anyone have tips on what's helped them do this?
@AbigailHall Me too. I feel like I read it and then when I'm finished, I didn't take in any of the information lol.
@LindsayVanLeeuwen It's helpful to write the kernel of the passage so you can refer back to what the passage is actually stating
@AbigailHall I kind of have the same issue, but from what I understand, you get faster the more you practice it.
These hurt my brain!!! Can anyone else relate?
@ilovecats170+ yep this is where things start to get spicy
The first question in this one is the same as the last one. However in the first one "It" is a referential to "keeping deep wounds free of bacteria." Why is it not the case in the first question on this skill builder as well now?
q4 - wouldn't the "that" in "in that" refer to dealings?
@lesteryxue I also thought this.
@lesteryxue @teaganneumann I think it's just a modifier here. It wasn't covered in the lesson but conjunctions (such as and) are used to join clauses among other things. If we break down the first sentence there are two clauses that could be read as individual sentences if we wanted.
The first clause reads
The second clause reads
This second clause broken down into it down into its basics the sentence would be
The subject is "nations".
The predicate verb is "are just like".
The predicate object is "individuals".
Why are nations just like individuals? They set the terms of their deals with the borrower.
That is just modifying the predicate to give more context, not referring back to that first clause. A good tip to figure out if it's truly referential or not is if the "that" in question makes sense without what you think it is referring to. The second clause makes sense without the first, so the "that" in the second clause isn't going to be referential.
Does anyone have tips for understanding this? I've been picking up on a lot of the topics well but my brain can't fully comprehend this one.
@esimone98 use the same strategy you did as the modifiers. Like always be on the lookout to see if anything will be referenced. For example, let's use this statement "The blue Tiger loves climbing on the tall tree in the zoo in the city of Michigan". Now in this sentence you can definitely tell what is modifying what, but let's change the statement a-bit to this, "The blue Tiger that loves climbing on the tall tree in the zoo in the city of Michigan", in this second example, the word that is a referential which is referencing the blue tiger "THAT" loves climbing, it more like an explanation of what was initially introduced to us so take a good look at Q5, it explained about the willingness, but when you continue the sentence, you intuitively know what is being talked about you already saw the modifiers in the first sentence and you then understand what is going on and what is being explained is the "willingness to tell the funny joke", so the words "this willingness references the easy willingness to tell funny stories or jokes about oneself is the surest mark of supreme self-confidence. Always look out for the pronouns in these statements, I hope I explained in easier.
For Q3 what would be the subject and predicate. I am trying to get in the habit of doing it for every question I see but I'm stumped here can anyone help me?
@AidenG123 I believe that it is "Economies train people."
5/5!!!