"were all" versus "the only" Forum

[Shostakovich]

I've been struggling with this question for awhile now...

so according to the answer key for this question the question uses two claims "A, B, and C WERE ALL sitting in the room this morning at 9 am" and "everyone sitting in the room at 9 am had just registered for beginner tennis" to conclude that "A, B, and C were THE ONLY people who registered for beginner tennis."

this seems weird to me because for this conclusion to come i feel like "were all" needs to encode "the only" i.e. A, B, C have to be the only ones who are in the room at 9 am. i do realize that "the only" means "all" but is that also true vice versa (does all "all" mean "the only")? i mean intuitively, the question seems to suggest that there could possibly be other people besides A, B, and C who were in the room at 9 am that could have registered for beginner tennis... what am i missing here?

thanks for any inputs.

[JurisDoctorate]

I remember that question and I guarantee you aren't presenting it as it was written.

[Shostakovich]

sorry, you are right. there is another clause, just wasn't sure if it was important to the conclusion. the question should be presented:

"everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school's athletic office this morning at 9 am had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic," "A, B, and C WERE ALL sitting in the waiting room this morning at 9 am," AND "no accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic." the conclusion is, it must be true based on these statements that: "A, B, and C were THE ONLY people who registered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning."

i keep trying to justify why the answer is right, but can't help but think that the way the question is presented still suggests that there could be someone besides A, B, and C in the waiting room this morning at 9 am who also registered for beginner tennis.

[JurisDoctorate]

"everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school's athletic office this morning at 9 am had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic," "A, B, and C WERE ALL sitting in the waiting room this morning at 9 am," AND "no accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic." the conclusion is, it must be true based on these statements that: "A, B, and C were THE ONLY people who registered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning."

Waiting Room at 9am: People who had registered for a beginners tennis clinic, who were not accomplished tennis players; A, B, C are among them

... You are still missing something, please post the whole stimulus and question stem!

[suspicious android]

sorry, you are right. there is another clause, just wasn't sure if it was important to the conclusion. the question should be presented:

"everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school's athletic office this morning at 9 am had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic," "A, B, and C WERE ALL sitting in the waiting room this morning at 9 am," AND "no accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic." the conclusion is, it must be true based on these statements that: "A, B, and C were THE ONLY people who registered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning."

i keep trying to justify why the answer is right, but can't help but think that the way the question is presented still suggests that there could be someone besides A, B, and C in the waiting room this morning at 9 am who also registered for beginner tennis.

Check your key, I remember this question, the correct answer is something like "A and B are not accomplished tennis players".

[Shostakovich]

my initial guess was the choice "neither A nor C is an accomplished tennis player" which there's no way it's wrong come to think of it, so i'm guessing it could just be another errata.

i'm using the TestMasters books. if you guys have experience with this manual, do you know how frequent erratas are?

thanks guys.

[Shostakovich]

okay and for those interested here's the full question. i was typing away this morning in a hurry so didn't get a chance to review my post that well:

"Everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school's athletic office this morning at nine o'clock had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic. John, Mary, and Teresa were all sitting in the waiting room this morning at nine o'clock. No accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic"

the two possible answer candidates seemed to be "C, John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people who regisrtered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning" and "E, Neither John nor Teresa is an accomplished tennis player," the latter of which was my initial answer but the answer key suggested C.

again, thanks for your inputs

[JurisDoctorate]

Found this through Google:

Everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic. John, Mary, and Teresa were all sitting in the waiting room this morning at nice o’clock. No accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?

(A) None of the people sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock had ever played tennis. This is wrong because Not being Accomplished=/=Never having played
(B) Everyone sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock registered only for a beginners tennis clinic. This is wrong because they could have registered for something else, as well
(C) John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people who registered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning. This is wrong because it doesn't say anything about people other than JMT being in the office (other than - if they were there at 9, they'd have to be a non-accomplished tennis player)
(D) John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people sitting in the waiting room of the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock. Similar logic
(E) Neither John nor Teresa is an accomplished tennis player. This is the correct answer as JT were in the office at 9>They registered for beginners tennis>They were non-accomplished tennis players

The test was wrong, apparently.