Logical Reasoning · Role of a Statement

PrepTest 112 · Section 4 · Question 13

Phase 1 (your first ~400 questions): read the guidance, then answer. No clock.

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Role of a Statement

The one idea it tests

A claim that gets support from one statement and then gives support to the final point is a Middle Manager (intermediate conclusion).

The basic logic

Draw arrows. Ask: does anything back up this claim? Does this claim back up anything else? If arrows point both into it and out of it, it is a middle bun: a conclusion on the way to the main conclusion.

Tiny words that decide it

“since”
“therefore”
“probably”

Playground logic

Kevin's patty: nobody else has flown a kite over the barn. His middle bun: so it probably can't be done. His top bun: so Grandpa is fibbing or misremembering. The middle claim takes support from below and hands it up: a Middle Manager.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa's Barn Kite

Grandpa leaned back in his rocking chair. "When I was a boy, I flew a kite clear over the top of the red barn." Kevin frowned. "Grandpa, nobody else has ever gotten a kite over that barn. Not Tommy, not Marcus, not even Aunt Rosa. So it probably can't be done. Which means you're either fibbing or remembering wrong." Grandpa chuckled. Priya pulled out her juice box and drew arrows on a napkin. "Kevin, 'nobody else has done it' holds up 'it probably can't be done.' And 'it can't be done' holds up 'Grandpa is fibbing.' So the middle part is a little conclusion and a helper, both at once." Lulu wrote MIDDLE MANAGER in big letters. Biscuit barked, as if he agreed.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Kevin: Nobody else has ever flown a kite over the red barn. So it probably cannot be done. Therefore Grandpa is most likely fibbing or misremembering when he says he did it as a boy.

In Kevin's argument, the claim that flying a kite over the barn probably cannot be done serves as

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Record-Setting Pumpkin

A farmer claimed he once grew a pumpkin heavier than a small car. The fair's lawyer, Mr. Dunn, addressed the court. "Your Honor, no grower in this county has ever come close. Therefore such a pumpkin probably cannot be grown here. So this farmer is likely exaggerating." Mr. Whitfield, for the farmer, stood and drew a chart. "Counsel's argument has three levels. The county record supports his middle claim, 'it cannot be grown here.' That middle claim then supports his final claim about my client." Judge Okafor nodded. "So if I knock out the middle, the top falls too." "Exactly, Your Honor. That middle claim is load-bearing."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 112, Section 4, Question 13 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Find the main conclusion first; it usually follows the last 'therefore' or 'so.' Then locate the quoted claim and draw arrows: is something offered as its reason, and does it serve as a reason for the main point? If both, it is an intermediate conclusion. Eliminate roles that require the speaker to argue against it, set it aside as mere background, or treat it as unsupported.