Use of "even if" on LR Forum

[PakiGuy87]

Hi All,

I've been taking the LSATs, more or less in chronological order and I've noticed that the more recent tests tend to use the words "even if" in the stimulus on the LR sections more often then the earlier LSATs.

Q: Is "even if" a sufficient or necessary indicator? If neither, then does the use of "even if" depend upon context? (unlike words like "if", "then" "must", "needs" which in my mind immediately make me think of conditional logic).

Since LR questions can't be posted verbatim here, I'll say that PT 53 (Dec 2007) Sec1 #2 can be used as an example, if you need to look it up.

Thanks.

[suspicious android]

"even if" is not a conditional indicator. It actually precludes conditionality. Example:

Jane would not date you even if you were rich.

You are rich ---> Jane will not date you
You are not rich ---> Jane will not you

Jane would date you ---> ???
Jane would not date you --> ???

The fact is Jane will not date you, no matter what. There is no meaningful conditional relationship here.

[PakiGuy87]

Thanks suspicious, that was very helpful. I'll work on applying that to my own hypotheticals but I like the "Jane" example you provided.

If others would like to post their explanations, I say go for it.