The word "tends"

Comments

• simon170 Alum Member

  May 2023 51 karma

  Tends would definitely be a correlation indicator. You can probably also treat it like a "most" indicator as well
• KevinLuminateLSAT Alum Member

  May 2023 984 karma

  @MTreigys said:
  So last night when I was in bed I randomly thought of a statement and tried to decipher whether or not it could be translated into logic in a traditional LR question.

  The statement is: Excessive yelling and/or screeching tends to deteriorate vocal cords.

  Could one translate this as (EY/ES-> DVC)?

  I'm wondering if the word "tends" works as a sufficiency indicator or if it's more like a way to introduce an implied (probably flawed) correlation, though not definitely sufficient to bring about the condition discussed.

  I think the statement itself would likely serve as a conclusion in any or most questions and it seems like it'd fit better as a flawed reasoning or parallel flaw statement. I have trouble thinking of premises that would lead to an arguer in an LR question coming to a conclusion that uses the word "tends" rather than some stronger indicator unless "tends" really is a sufficiency indicator.

  Would love to hear thoughts from others!

  "Tends" is not a sufficiency indicator, because it's not saying that anything is guaranteed to be the case.

  "NBA players tend to be tall." That's not saying that being an NBA player enough to guarantee that the player is tall, because the statement allows for there to be some non-tall NBA players. So I wouldn't think of "tends" to as involving a conditional arrow.

  "Tends" also does not, by itself, indicate a correlation. For example,

  "People who like mushrooms tend to enjoy watching movies." This is not establishing a correlation between liking mushrooms and enjoying watching movies, because it's entirely possible that people who do not like mushrooms also tend to enjoy watching movies. It could just be that people in general, whether they like mushrooms or not, tend to enjoy watching movies. So that statement, by itself, has not established that there is a correlation. In order to establish a correlation, the statement would need to say something that indicates that people who like mushrooms are more likely to enjoy watching movies than people who don't like mushrooms.

  So what does "tends" mean? I translate it to "is likely".

  "NBA players tend to be tall." = "NBA players are likely to be tall."

  "People who like mushrooms tend to enjoy watching movies." = "People who like mushrooms are likely to enjoy watching movies."

  Now you might be thinking that you can recall many examples of statements involving "tends" that did seem to introduce a correlation, or that may have even introduced cause. That may be true - but in those sentences, any correlation or causal meaning came from other language. "Tends" still just meant "is likely".

  For example, in the statement you used:

  "Excessive yelling tends to deteriorate vocal cords."

  That is a causal claim, not because of "tends", but because it asserts that the yelling "deteriorate[s]" vocal cords. "Deteriorates" is a causal verb that is saying that one thing is damaging or reducing another thing.

  The "tends" in this sentence clarifies that the yelling is "likely" to deteriorate vocal cords -- in other words, this is something experienced by most people who yell excessively, but not necessarily everyone.