PrepTest 105, Section 4, Question 17
Everyone who is excessively generous is not levelheaded,(8 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(6 more words not shown)
- AEveryone who is(5 more words not shown)
- BEveryone who is(5 more words not shown)
- CNo one who(6 more words not shown)
- DIf someone is(10 more words not shown)
- EIf someone is(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Slow down and keep the groups separate. Excessively generous people are not levelheaded. Levelheaded people are not bold. Those are the two facts we're allowed to use, even if we wouldn't use those descriptions that way in ordinary life.
Can we run straight from excessive generosity to a conclusion about boldness? No. The first statement puts excessively generous people outside the levelheaded group. The second tells us something about people inside that group. It doesn't tell us whether the people outside it are bold.
For example, an excessively generous person could be bold or could be timid. Either person could satisfy both statements, provided that person wasn't levelheaded. We shouldn't invent a connection between generosity and boldness just because both statements mention levelheadedness.
What we’re looking for
The question asks what follows. Check each answer against the actual restrictions, paying particular attention to which group its opening describes. "Not levelheaded" and "levelheaded" are different starting points.
Working the answers
- A
We know excessively generous people are not levelheaded. We don't know that they are not bold. A bold, excessively generous person who isn't levelheaded violates neither fact. That possible person is enough to show why A isn't guaranteed.
- B
Being not bold doesn't require excessive generosity. Someone could be quiet and give very little away. Neither statement rules that person out. The passage gives no rule that turns a lack of boldness into excessive generosity.
- C
Untangle the negatives: C says that everyone who is not bold is excessively generous. That's the same unsupported connection as B. Neither fact tells us that all people who lack boldness must have this other trait.
- DCorrect
Start with a levelheaded person and check both parts separately. The second statement directly tells us that this person isn't bold. Could this person be excessively generous? No, because the first statement says excessively generous people are not levelheaded. A person can't meet that description and be levelheaded at the same time.
D combines the two restrictions on levelheaded people. It doesn't make the unsupported leap from generosity to boldness that caused trouble in the earlier answers.
- E
A person could be neither bold nor excessively generous and still not be levelheaded. Perhaps the person is timid, ungenerous, and makes poor decisions. The passage doesn't say that boldness and excessive generosity are the only ways to fall outside the levelheaded group. E adds that requirement.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.