Q25 - Cities with healthy economies typically

[jennifer]

Is the key to the correct answer the word some?

In the stimulus the word "typically" is used which I believe is translated to some. And "tend" could also be some, correct? Thus the answer choice would have to follow the same pattern? Thank you

[noah]

"Typically" and "tend" both translate to "most." We do indeed need to match those modifiers. Notice how (D) and (E) miss the mark!

In this problem, we're matching this structure:

Most C with H have lots of J.
Most C with T have lots of H.
Thus, if you want J, go to T.

It's a pretty straightforward argument.

(C) matches it nicely:

Most Antique with Age Authenticated have lots of Value.
Most Dealers have lots of Age Authenticated.
Thus, if you want lots of value, go to Dealers.

There are some tricky wrong answers.

(A) looks good at first glance (similar premise and conclusion structures) - I'd probably leave it for the second pass. But, on further inspection, this is its structure:

Older A are most Value
Most Dealers authenticate age
Thus, if you want most Value, go to Dealers.

What we're missing is that the Dealers have the older antiques. Just because they're authenticated, doesn't mean they're old! Plus, the premise is a bit mismatched - we want X with Y have the most Z. (A) gives us X have most Z.

(B) is tempting, but look under the hood:

Most Dealers that have Ages Authenticated have lots of Antiques.
The most Valuable Antiques are Age Authenticated.
Thus, if you want Valuable, look for Dealers.

The second premise is a mismatch - we want "most" to be used as "usually" not as "the most." (B) also is mis-linked. Notice that two things link to Ages Authenticated. We want a chain, so we want Age Authenticated to link to something.

(D) is easy to eliminate because of the initial "many." We want an equivalent for "most." Also, notice the use of "most" in the second sentence - like in (B), we see it as part of "the most."

(E) also starts with a problematic "many." The linkage is also off. We would need a link to authenticating age.

[mlbrandow]

Interesting to note is that if you look at the stimulus, it only mentions "job openings" not the best jobs.

(A), (B), (D), and (E) all mention "most valuable antiques" relative to other antiques or valuable antiques, which is not parallel to the stimulus, which only makes reference to one thing (jobs), not the intensity or quality of that thing (best, worst, etc).

Doing a quick tone test, one is only left with (C).

It's not often that these questions are gift-wrapped like this, where one parallel strategy can solve the entire question, but when it is, it's nice!

[lsatodyssey]

out of curiosity...

is this argument valid?

i always get confused with the one scenario in which two
"most"
Statements make a valid argument...

thanks

[noah]

out of curiosity...

is this argument valid?

i always get confused with the one scenario in which two
"most"
Statements make a valid argument...

thanks

You can infer a some statement from two most statements when it's like this:

Most Xs are Ys
Most Xs are Zs

Therefore, some Ys are Zs.

In this case, we don't have that structure, and we have the addition of "should move", so there are lots of holes here.

For the numbers, if there are 20 high tech cities, we could have as few as 11 having healthy economies, and of those 11, we could have just 6 with plenty of job openings. Does that mean that most high tech cities have plenty of job openings? It's only 6/20!