Section 2, number 11 of the June 2007 LSAT asks us to identify “the role played in the argument” by one sentence of a longer argument. The sentence in question is “several centuries ago, the complaint was that certain intellectual skills… were being destroyed by the spread of literacy.” I’m going to attack this question by asking one, two, or three questions of my own.
1) Is it the conclusion of the argument? (If yes, then that’s the answer.)
2) If not, then does it support the conclusion of the argument? (i.e., is it a premise of the argument?) (If yes, then that’s the answer.)
3) Or is it something else entirely?
Go ahead and ask yourself these questions now. As always, remember that the answer choices aren’t going to explain anything to us. We’ve got to arm ourselves with a prediction before wandering into the disorienting jungle of the answer choices.
Nathan Fox
