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This one really took me by surprise. I thought it was E and moved on. This screamed stereotypical LSAT question to me...

Since poetry readings are offered almost every wednesday, and free coffee every time there is a poetry reading so...

this means that SOME wednesdays there isn't poetry readings and not necessarily free coffee offered.

D and E looked good, but then I eliminated D because of "...if not all Wednesdays." I thought the language was too strong.

Good luck this Monday everyone!

First sentence of stimulus:

Most Wednesdays ---> Free Poetry Readings

Second sentence of stimulus:

If Free Poetry Readings ---> half-priced coffee


They connect perfectly to give you:

Most Wednesdays ---> Free Poetry Readings ---> half-priced coffee all day


Choice D means:

Most Wednesdays ---> half-priced coffee all day


The "if not all" in choice D is meaningless. It's not substantive. Think of it as just a little rhetorical flourish.

***

It's kind of like the (lack of) difference between: "X if and only if Y" vs "X if but only if Y"

"and" indicates that it's a relatively smooth connection, whereas "but" indicates surprise. The tone with which the content doesn't matter - only the content itself does.


Hope this all helps

Steve

Got it, thanks for the prompt reply!

The reason the "if not all" works is because the stimulus doesn't say that coffee is half price only if there's a reading. It could very well be half price every Wednesday. It could be half price all day every day for all we know.

zworykin wrote:The reason the "if not all" works is because the stimulus doesn't say that coffee is half price only if there's a reading. It could very well be half price every Wednesday. It could be half price all day every day for all we know.

That's exactly right.

The fact that "most" allows the possibility of all is often a source of confusion.

Think of it this way:

If you have 100 apples in a barrel and want to see how many are still fresh, you'd only need to look at 51 of them before declaring that most of them are fresh. By making such a declaration, you haven't dismissed the possibility that all are fresh.

I'm in the same boat. I felt that it was E for sure. I see why D can be correct, but can someone tell me why E is wrong? I can't see how it could be wrong. Most =/= all, so if E were to be wrong I feel that Poetry readings would have to take place on all Wednesdays. Most wednesdays would indicate that there are in fact some wednesdays upon which poetry is not read, therefore it is possible that half price coffee is not offered all day on some wednesdays. I hate you LSAC.

cascade wrote: Most =/= all

Faulty assumption. Most can definitely be all. Doesn't have to be, but it can.

Now I'm really going to sleep. Got a test tomorrow, and all...

cascade wrote:I'm in the same boat. I felt that it was E for sure. I see why D can be correct, but can someone tell me why E is wrong? I can't see how it could be wrong. Most =/= all, so if E were to be wrong I feel that Poetry readings would have to take place on all Wednesdays. Most wednesdays would indicate that there are in fact some wednesdays upon which poetry is not read, therefore it is possible that half price coffee is not offered all day on some wednesdays. I hate you LSAC.

As someone above posted, there is nothing in the passage that rules out the possibility that there is half priced coffee all day every day. Because of that, any answer that states that there is not half priced coffee at a given time is false given a lack of evidence in the passage.

I'm guessing you are probably sitting taking the LSAT as I type this meaning it's late, but I wanted to answer anyways