Can any statement be turned into a conditional statement? Forum

[MS415]

Can any of the following statements be turned into conditional statements?
1. Fred is the only one wearing a red shirt.
Could this be " If he is the only one wearing red shirt, then he is Fred" or
" If he is Fred, he is the only one wearing a red shirt"?

2. Katie is driving to school in a pink Beetle.
Could this be " If she is driving a pink beetle, then she is Katie" or " If you are Katie, then you are driving a pink Beetle"?

Your answers would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[natashka85]

Can any of the following statements be turned into conditional statements?
1. Fred is the only one wearing a red shirt.
Could this be " If he is the only one wearing red shirt, then he is Fred" or
" If he is Fred, he is the only one wearing a red shirt"?

2. Katie is driving to school in a pink Beetle.
Could this be " If she is driving a pink beetle, then she is Katie" or " If you are Katie, then you are driving a pink Beetle"?

Your answers would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

The only introduces sufficient ,so if Fred is the only one then he is wearing a red shirt
but the second one o don`t think so.

[boblawlob]

First statement: If wearing a red shirt, then it's Fred.

"The only" introduces the sufficient condition.

Second statement: not a conditional.

[Platodium]

First statement: If wearing a red shirt, then it's Fred.

"The only" introduces the necessary condition.

Second statement: not a conditional.

Fixed.

"the only one" is a necessary condition, and refers to Fred here.

[BlaqBella]

First statement: If wearing a red shirt, then it's Fred.

"The only" introduces the necessary condition.

Second statement: not a conditional.

Fixed.

"the only one" is a necessary condition, and refers to Fred here.

Nope. "The only" always introduces the sufficient. The "THE" preceding "only" is the trigger.

"If the only one wearing a red shirt, then it is Fred"

[BlaqBella]

Can any of the following statements be turned into conditional statements?
1. Fred is the only one wearing a red shirt.
Could this be " If he is the only one wearing red shirt, then he is Fred" or
" If he is Fred, he is the only one wearing a red shirt"?

2. Katie is driving to school in a pink Beetle.
Could this be " If she is driving a pink beetle, then she is Katie" or " If you are Katie, then you are driving a pink Beetle"?

Your answers would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

The only introduces sufficient ,so if Fred is the only one then he is wearing a red shirt
but the second one o don`t think so.

You're right on introducing the sufficient, but that won't result in the bolded.

[Platodium]

First statement: If wearing a red shirt, then it's Fred.

"The only" introduces the necessary condition.

Second statement: not a conditional.

Fixed.

"the only one" is a necessary condition, and refers to Fred here.

Nope. "The only" always introduces the sufficient. The "THE" preceding "only" is the trigger.

"If the only one wearing a red shirt, then it is Fred"

my bad, listen to this guy

[Zeta]

no offense to anyone but i wouldn't call any of these answers satisfactory.

[natashka85]

Can any of the following statements be turned into conditional statements?
1. Fred is the only one wearing a red shirt.
Could this be " If he is the only one wearing red shirt, then he is Fred" or
" If he is Fred, he is the only one wearing a red shirt"?

2. Katie is driving to school in a pink Beetle.
Could this be " If she is driving a pink beetle, then she is Katie" or " If you are Katie, then you are driving a pink Beetle"?

Your answers would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

The only introduces sufficient ,so if Fred is the only one then he is wearing a red shirt
but the second one o don`t think so.

You're right on introducing the sufficient, but that won't result in the bolded.[/quote
Thanks for pointing out,yea u are right ,i guess i never diagram during lsat,thats why i stated that wrong,but now i remembered that the part after the only should be sufficient]

[bp shinners]

Can any of the following statements be turned into conditional statements?
1. Fred is the only one wearing a red shirt.
Could this be " If he is the only one wearing red shirt, then he is Fred" or
" If he is Fred, he is the only one wearing a red shirt"?

As others have said, "the only" introduces a sufficient condition. In this case, it introduces, "one wearing a red shirt."
So if you diagrammed this, it would be:
Wearing a red shirt -> Fred

However, this is also an absolute statement that tells me Fred is, in fact, wearing a red shirt. While it's not great, you can change an absolute statement into a conditional (see below), though it usually sounds stupid:
If you are the Fred in question, you're wearing a red shirt.

So the statement you wrote above is actually bi-conditional, because I know Fred is wearing a red shirt, and no one else is wearing a red shirt. So if you find me someone who is wearing a red shirt, then I'll be sure it's Fred; and if you blindfold me and have Fred say hi, I'll astound him by telling him his shirt is red. And if you introduce me to anyone else, I know their shirt isn't red. Ditto find me someone in a blue shirt - I'm sure it's not Fred.

2. Katie is driving to school in a pink Beetle.
Could this be " If she is driving a pink beetle, then she is Katie" or " If you are Katie, then you are driving a pink Beetle"?

Again, this is an absolute statement. If you were going to force it into a conditional statement, it would be:
If you are the Katie in question, then you are driving to school in a pink Beetle.

However, I would just leave this one as an absolute statement (I usually represent that with a colon instead of an arrow, so K:DTSIB, which means Katie is driving to school in a Beetle).

[Zeta]

.

[BlaqBella]

i thought 'only' always introduced a necessary condition...so much so that when faced with 'only if' the 'only' overrides the 'if' so that the following condition is necessary.
as in:

i will play if tony will play
tony play --> i play

i will play only if tony will play.
i play --> tony play

Yes, that is right but when you have the following preceding only, for example, the following:

IF only
THE only


these introduce the sufficient.

Example: The only way to be a licensed attorney is to pass the bar (License --> Pass bar)

BP talks more about this, as well as "unless", "without", "except", etc.:

http://blueprintprep.com/lsatblog/lsat/ ... -the-lsat/

[Zeta]

got it. thanks!