grammar / linguistics

sh.francis

In the webinar below (which is awesome btw), there is a discussion around the 49 minute mark that talks about how grammar and language is what adds incremental difficulty to very hard LR questions, not logic. That definitely resonated with me. Most of the questions that take me a long time are because the sentences are convoluted and take a long time to parse out or there is some conditional logic that is hard to figure out.

I'm really starting to notice that sentence structure and word usage are at the heart of conditional logic, especially for the more complicated questions where you can't use the simple group translations in a mechanistic way, and you have to understand language in a deeper way (ie certain words in a certain indicator group are not being used as a logical indicator in that sentence and should be ignored).

Has anyone else worked to improve on this and have any suggestions on resources? I'm not sure exactly what the right book is... it's sort of at the intersection of grammar and linguistics. I literally typed that into the amazon store and bought a book called Advanced English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach but if anyone has a more intelligent recommendation on how to go about it I'm all ears

https://7sage.com/webinar/post-core-curriculum-study-strategies/

Cant Get Right

Language is so fascinating. This area of study is what I've most come to love about LSAT. Grammar includes two major sub-fields: syntax and morphology. Syntax is what we really need to study on the LSAT, and it's what we usually think about when we think "grammar." It is the study of the structuring of phrases, clauses, and sentences. (Morphology deals with the structure of words.) A lot of times, "grammar" is used when what we really mean is syntax, and that's true in a lot of resources as well. Linguistics is an even more comprehensive field of study that gets into a lot of things which are really fascinating but which the LSAT tries to avoid, mostly successfully.

So if you want to really target your search, look for resources specifically on syntax. I really like Oxford, but there's a ton of great resources.

There's also a lot of not so good ones. The main thing to be sure to avoid is anything advocating for rules like:
don't end a sentence with a preposition;
don't begin a sentence with a conjunction;
don't split an infinitive; or
don't say "I am good," say "I am well."
These are all fake. I could rant about this, but I'll just leave it at that. These resources completely miss the point and should be avoided.

sh.francis

That's exactly the answer I was looking for! Thank you...Makes sense you'd be the one to answer haha.

Steven_B-1

Did any of you find any specific resource? I'm thinking about retaking my 171 to shoot for a 174 or higher next August but I feel like I'm missing something and would like to try supplementing my studies.

sh.francis

Analysing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax (Learning about Language)
Noel Burton-Roberts

most of the book won't be relevant to the LSAT but there were some super eye opening bits. the concept of tree diagramming is a really useful framework for understanding the components of a sentence and untangling the really convoluted constructions the LSAT writers sometimes use. I also liked the chapter on clauses for the same reason. you could also search on YouTube for some tree diagramming videos which might be more efficient.

also did a refresher on basic grammar using the below book, but any elements of style type book would suffice.
Grammar Smart, 4th Edition: The Savvy Student's Guide to Perfect Usage (Smart Guides)

Steven_B-1

@"shih.francis" Thank you for the references !