relationships

• comparative

• some intersection

• relatas: 

  • cause vs effect

  • paragraph 1 vs 2

  • phenomenon vs hypothesis

• support (relatas: premise vs conclusion)

  • aim: persuasion (subjective)

relationship 2

(clauses linked together to emphasize relationships)

• disjunction

• conditional claims (sufficient and necessary condition)

  • indicators

    • unless

• causal claims (cause and effect)

  • indicators

    • because

• analogies (one thing is like another thing)

  • source vs target clause

  • indicators

    • just as

comparatives

• two things that stand in comparison to each other w one of two coming on top

  • a vs b (what are you comparing)

  • quality/characteristic of comparison

  • identify “winner”

• negative comparatives

• when comparatives have “no” or “not” there may be no clear winner

  • ex: allison is not taller than jake

• implied comparatives

  • no than in the statement

    • ex: tom is feeling better today, cafes are busier during the morning rush

• relative vs absolute

  • comparatives are usually relative without making absolute statements but context can sometimes imply absolute qualities

    • ex: jake is not taller than allison and they play basketball

    • they are likely tall, but it is not absolute

• equivalence

  • i am older than you=you are younger than me

arguments

• an argument consists of premises and a conclusion that aims to persuade

  • support structures the argument, and support depends on assumptions

    • assumptions are a “forgotten” premise that can be subtle

    • less reasonable assumptions render an argument vulnerable to criticism

    • Valid arguments (on the LSAT) require no additional unstated assumptions for the conclusion to follow from the premises.

      • Invalid arguments require at least one necessary assumption.

wonder “what the author wants me to believe” and “why should i believe this”

conclusion indicators (words followed by a conclusion)

• consequently

• therefore

• as a result

• clearly

• it follows that

• accordingly

• we may conclude

• it entails

• hence

• thus

• we may infer that

• it must be that

• it implies that

• that is why

premise indicators (words followed by premise)

• given that

• seeing that

• for the reason that

• owing to

• as indicated by

• after all

• on the grounds that

words that are followed by a premise but also contain a conclusion

• for

• because

• since

types of questions

• Must Be True questions 

• phenomenon-hypothesis

  • causation logic

subconclusion: claim that receives and gives support

• Premise: All dogs are adorable.

• Premise: Fluffers is a dog.

• Sub-conclusion: Therefore, Fluffers is adorable.

• Premise: All adorable things are cute.

• Conclusion: Fluffers is cute.

  • sub arguments make a complex argument

context (used as referent for referential phrase)

• table setting

  • information explaining a premise

• other peoples position

  • an opposite conclusion they claim is incorrect

• concession

  • making the opposing argument before the other can

context transition indicators

• but

• however

• yet

• some people say

concession indicators

• despite

• in spite of

• although

• though

• even though

• even if

• notwithstanding

• while

clause

• subject

  • gerund or noun

• predicate

  • verb/object

subject vs predicate noun modifier indicators

• that

• who

predicate modifier indicators

• of

• by

• in

• for

(where, how, when, why )

predicate object indicator

• the

object clause

• that can be used to make a clause the subject

  • indicator

    • that

  • ex: scientists discovered that the sky is blue

referent

• stands in place of something that appeared earlier

• negative: not that (other/otherwise)

rhetorical questions

• implied declarative statement for dramatic effect (more persuasive)

logic

• formal

  • form of argument matters more than content (valid/invalid)

  • includes

    • conditional logic (sufficient/necessary conditions)

    • logic btwn sets

      • supersets, subsets, intersecting sets, and membership in those sets

  • main concern is what must be true

• informal (typical of reading comprehension

  • all other types of logic

    • causation

    • analogies

    • generalization

    • scientific reasoning

    • rule application reasoning

    • cost-benefit analysis

    • misc

  • subject to be made stronger or weaker

    • how well supported

sets

• set: abstract collection of members

• membership: something belongs to such set

• when a set is inside a set

  • superset: larger one

  • subset: smaller one

sufficiency vs necessity conditions

• subset membership is sufficient for superset membership but not necessary

• superset membership is necessary for subset membership but not sufficient 

• subset is to superset as sufficiency is to necessity

  • if dot is in cat-set, it is sufficient to know the dot is inside mammal-set

  • membership in a mammal-set is necessary for membership in cat-set

    • membership in mammal-set is not sufficient for membership in cat-set (membership in cat-set is not necessary for membership in mammal-set)

conditional argument (formal argument)

• when sufficient condition is true, the necessary condition is also true

• Membership in Set A is sufficient for membership in Set B. X is a member of Set A. Therefore, X is a member of Set B

conditional indicators (logical indicators)

• the idea immediately following the conditional indicator is the sufficient condition

  • If X, Y

  • when

  • where

  • all 

  • every

  • any

  • the only

• the idea immediately following the conditional indicator is the necessary  condition

  • only

  • only if

  • only when

  • only where

  • always

  • must

truth vs validity

• truth is property of claims (true vs false)

• validity is property of arguments (valid/invalid)

  • validity: if (or pretend that) all the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true.

“lawgic”

• → establishes a conditional relationship

  • sufficient condition (left side) to a necessary condition (right side)

• subscripts represent membership of set

  • L^J represents Luke's membership in the set of Jedi.

• conditional argument shape:

  • categorical syllogism

A → B

x^A

____

x^B

OR

• modus ponens

sufficient → necessary

sufficient

____

necessary