Negating with LR... :( Forum

[d0rklord]

I swear I'm going to rip my hair out.

For whatever reason, any LR question that requires negating an answer choice in order to come to the right answer I get incorrect!

I can always narrow it down to two answer choices and pick the wrong one

How do I know which part of the answer to negate? I think that might be my issue? Or maybe I just do not know WHEN I need to negate?

Help, please!!!!!!

[LionelHutzJD]

For one, make sure you're only negating necessary assumption questions.

[ccordero]

For what it's worth, here's what i've taken out of the Manhattan LR book...

If there's a modifier in the sentence... like "All", "Most", "Some", "None", "Always", "Never", "Sometimes", etc. You will negate the MODIFIER.

If there is no modifier in the sentence... you negate the MAIN verb in the sentence.


Also for what it's worth, here's what I've taken out of the Powerscore LR Book.

The following negates the other and vice versa.

All <---> Not All
Most/Some <---> None
Always <---> Not Always
Sometimes <---> Never

Negating a verb usually just requires adding a "does not" or "not" or etc.

[bhan87]

For what it's worth, here's what i've taken out of the Manhattan LR book...

If there's a modifier in the sentence... like "All", "Most", "Some", "None", "Always", "Never", "Sometimes", etc. You will negate the MODIFIER.

If there is no modifier in the sentence... you negate the MAIN verb in the sentence.


Also for what it's worth, here's what I've taken out of the Powerscore LR Book.

The following negates the other and vice versa.

All <---> Not All
Most/Some <---> None
Always <---> Not Always
Sometimes <---> Never

Negating a verb usually just requires adding a "does not" or "not" or etc.

"Not all" also means "some not". "Not all apples are Fuji Apples" means "Some apples are not Fuji Apples".

The negation of Most is not None, but "Not Most", which can be none or some. The opposite of "Most hamburgers are healthy" is "It is not that case that most hamburgers are healthy". This is actually different from "Most hamburgers are not healthy" (this takes the negation too far).

"Not always" also means "sometimes not"

[ccordero]

^^^ thanks for that explanation i was having trouble understanding those negations too

but am i correct in that the negation of "Some" is "None"?

[bp shinners]

For whatever reason, any LR question that requires negating an answer choice in order to come to the right answer I get incorrect!

No question REQUIRES the negation of the answers to get it correct. That's just a tool to use that makes it a little easier to find it.

The advice above is a great breakdown of how to negate different answer choices. Keep working at it until you understand it. Recognize three things, however:

1) If you really can't ever understand it, then don't use that tool. If it's not helpful to you, it's not helpful.

2) Don't just go through the answers and negate everything. You should be able to narrow it down to 2, maybe 3. Negate those.

3) To narrow it down, recognize that the more expansive an answer is, the less likely it is to be necessary to the argument. I'd rather have a weaker answer here, as I usually only have to assume something is possible to have a possibility of my conclusion being valid, not that something is necessary.

[JazzOne]

You can negate any statement by saying, "It is false that [statement]."