What does "Often" mean on the LSAT

skrishnan

I have encountered certain questions where often means "Some". I had made a note about it until I came across PT37 S2 Q18 where in answer choice C says " often sacrificed" and it was eliminated because it said often based on one example.

I'd love an explanation for this question along with how to deal with "Often"

Thanks in advance!

TheDeterminedC

Often is a word that, in some way or another, points to a trend. A trend would have to be more than one instance of a phenomena. I believe you correctly eliminated C because of its unsupported broad conclusion. In this particular question, the context of AC C seems to articulate a trent happening more towards the "most" spectrum. Regardless, it seems like you have a solid grasp on why often was not supported.

Sometimes the word often is used on the LSAT to describe correlations as well. "Often, as C02 in the atmosphere increases, the global temperature increases as well." Although I just made that quote up, it goes to show that context plays a major role in how the words are interpreted.

Typically speaking, if there is a premise that uses often in a correlation way, we can expect some causal or another correlation in the conclusion. Alternatively, if often is used as a some statement, it could both articulate a conditional relationship, or just simply be used as a transitive statement.

skrishnan

@TheDeterminedC

Thanks for this