Classify causal conditional compaitive Forum

[orzo]

In general I am wondering In the lr section, What classifies a question as causal or comparative, conditional? Is it just restricted to the language of the conclusion that makes it causal ect. Or does it have to do with the premises containing causal or comparative, conditional language. I can see how there are causal wording in a conclusion for instance but does that mean you can classify the question as such or it doesn’t matter..thanks, I’m trying to fine tune my study and I thought maybe someone may know..

[Blueprint LSAT]

I don't know that the distinction you are trying to make is all that useful when breaking down LR questions into types for study purposes. It is definitely important to be able to recognize when an argument is assuming a causal relationship or using conditional/transitive reasoning, etc... but an individual LR question might contain both and a comparison or two to boot.

When breaking the questions into types, look at what they are asking you to do. Are they asking you to draw a conclusion from facts? Are they asking you to find the flaw in someone's argument? Are they asking you to make an argument stronger or attack it?

Once you know what you are trying to do, look at the argument itself and try to spot how the evidence given supports (or fails to support) the conclusion.

If there is causal language in the conclusion and a bunch of conditional language present in the support that is given, look for what is most relevant to the claim being made and how all the moving parts fit together. The answer may come from any piece of it depending on what is being asked, but if you have a solid idea what your answer choice needs to cover you will have a much better idea whether the causal language you spotted in the conclusion means the answer is going to involve that causal claim you spotted, or if that is incidental and you should focus on some other aspect of the question.

So while I'd hesitate to say "it doesn't matter," I will say that questions won't necessarily stick to one type of reasoning so don't get hung up on classifying them that way, focus on classifying them by what aspect of the reasoning the question has asked you to look at and which parts of the text are most relevant to that.

-Andrew McDonald, Blueprint Instructor

[orzo]

Thank you for responding...I guess I will try not to concentrate on that so much.. I think like you said it’s better to look at how the information is supported!