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hey, i'm always confused by these. i think i need to make it clear before June 7!

i guess usually is "most", many is "some", but not sure about often... can anyone help/correct me here?

Many and often mean the same thing on the LSAT: at least one/once. They do not imply in any way a majority.

Example: Many people like ice cream. Many people also like soda. At least one person must like ice cream sodas. <--- FALSE.

I remember one of the PTs I took had a question like this about blueberry pie.

I thought often did imply a majority (or more than half, likelihood)?

lsat_doobie wrote:I thought often did imply a majority (or more than half, likelihood)?

+1

Bildungsroman wrote:Many and often mean the same thing on the LSAT: at least one/once. They do not imply in any way a majority.

Example: Many people like ice cream. Many people also like soda. At least one person must like ice cream sodas. <--- FALSE.

I remember one of the PTs I took had a question like this about blueberry pie.

Correct, you can only make that inference if you replaced both Many's with Most

lsat_doobie wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Many and often mean the same thing on the LSAT: at least one/once. They do not imply in any way a majority.

Example: Many people like ice cream. Many people also like soda. At least one person must like ice cream sodas. <--- FALSE.

I remember one of the PTs I took had a question like this about blueberry pie.

Correct, you can only make that inference if you replaced both Many's with Most

I'm pretty sure even with most, you still can't make that inference.

I'm pretty positive if there are two Most's, you can infer that at least one person likes ice cream and soda (i.e. some people like ice cream and soda)

mz253 wrote:

lsat_doobie wrote:I thought often did imply a majority (or more than half, likelihood)?

+1

If I told you I snort coke 13 days per month, would you feel justified in saying that I snort coke often?

lsat_doobie wrote:I thought often did imply a majority (or more than half, likelihood)?

Nope, looking in my Kaplan book at this right now.

What's even crazier is that the word "several" only means "at least 1" on the LSAT. The LSAT doesn't require math skills, so you'll never find yourself having to count up "severals" and "oftens" and "manys" and try to do some calculations. The LSAT just makes sure, on LR, that you know the difference between a majority and not a majority, and can recognize the difference between overlapping majorities and those situations where different categories don't necessarily overlap.

Think about this: "often" is a relative term. "Most" is not. If you say somebody cheats often, you may just be saying they cheat 5% of the time, but compared to the general population, that seems very frequent. If you say somebody cheats most of the time, you are saying that person cheats more than half the time, because that's what the word "most" means.

lsat_doobie wrote:I'm pretty positive if there are two Most's, you can infer that at least one person likes ice cream and soda (i.e. some people like ice cream and soda)

He wrote ice cream sodas. Combination of the two. Like root beer float.

yea.. ice cream and soda.. not ice cream sodas... is what I meant

lsat_doobie wrote:I'm pretty positive if there are two Most's, you can infer that at least one person likes ice cream and soda (i.e. some people like ice cream and soda)

TITCR.

100 people.
Most like ice cream = at least 51 people like ice cream.
Most like coffee = at least 51 people like coffee.
At least one person must like both, or else you run out of people.

bartleby wrote:

lsat_doobie wrote:I'm pretty positive if there are two Most's, you can infer that at least one person likes ice cream and soda (i.e. some people like ice cream and soda)

He wrote ice cream sodas. Combination of the two. Like root beer float.

That was just a substitution for an old LSAT question, where it was "blueberries", "pie", and "blueberries in their pie". The conclusion wasn;t flawed because ZOMG BLUEBERRY PIE DOESN'T FLOW FROM BLUEBERRIES AND PIE, but rather because of the most/many distinction.

Don't forget about "minority." They've thrown that in to fuck with people a couple times.

Bildungsroman wrote:

lsat_doobie wrote:I thought often did imply a majority (or more than half, likelihood)?

Nope, looking in my Kaplan book at this right now.

What's even crazier is that the word "several" only means "at least 1" on the LSAT. The LSAT doesn't require math skills, so you'll never find yourself having to count up "severals" and "oftens" and "manys" and try to do some calculations. The LSAT just makes sure, on LR, that you know the difference between a majority and not a majority, and can recognize the difference between overlapping majorities and those situations where different categories don't necessarily overlap.

Think about this: "often" is a relative term. "Most" is not. If you say somebody cheats often, you may just be saying they cheat 5% of the time, but compared to the general population, that seems very frequent. If you say somebody cheats most of the time, you are saying that person cheats more than half the time, because that's what the word "most" means.

This is correct. "Often" means "many times", so treat it like many/some/several (= one or more).