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problem understanding negative/double negative/triple negative statements

zestormaxzestormax Free Trial Member
in Logical Reasoning 8 karma

guys, I am having a huge problem understanding negative/double negative/triple negative statements,
whether they are an answer choice or in stimulus of LR questions.

I can understand them, but it just takes me a long time. Is there any efficient way to turn them into positive statements so that I can understand what the OPPOSITE of them says so I can make sense of them? (remove the negative components)

Here's one of the simpler examples: No tax reduction package that would greatly inconvenience parents will be adopted this year.

The way that I can understand such a statement in my head is being getting rid of "NO" and replacing it with every tax reduction package that would greatly inconvenience parents will NOT be adopted this year.

Note: I am not having trouble NEGATING statements (ex. NONE ---becomes ---> SOME)

PLEASE help!!

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Comments

  • jhbm_nycjhbm_nyc Alum Member
    568 karma

    Whenever I encounter a double negative that gives me trouble, I rephrase it in my own words. PT46.S2.Q10 is a good example of this. You can rephrase "X is not indispensable" to "X is not essential."

  • redshiftredshift Alum Member
    edited December 2018 261 karma

    You need to go back to the core curriculum. When there's a "no" statement like this, you "Negate-Necessary."

    Here's our phrase: "no tax package that would greatly inconvenience parents (TPIP) will be adopted (A) this year."

    What does this mean? Well, it means that if you have a tax package that will greatly inconvenience parents, it WON'T be adopted this year. We negate necessary.

    We write this as: If TPIP (tax package inconvenience parents) --> ~A (won't be adopted this year). Negate necessary.

    You have to get the fundamentals down before you can deal with double negatives. Let's deal with a harder one.

    Here's our phrase: "no tax package that would greatly inconvenience parents won't be adopted this year." That's a double negative. But we already know our rules. Negate Necessary. So we can follow our rules, and write:

    If TPIP --> ~~A (will not, not be adopted this year) Or, think of it like math. Two negatives = A Positive. So: TPIP --> A. If you're a tax package that will inconvenience parents, then you will be adopted this year.

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