Q18 - Police Captain: The chief of police

[ganbayou]

I chose D and not sure why B is correct...the police chief specified or defined what graft is...right? so other forms cannot be called as grafts I thought. why is B correct and D wrong?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

The chief of police indicated that gifts of cash or objects valued at more than $100 are graft.

Gifts valued at $100+ --> Graft

That does not mean that there are not other kinds of graft, only that such gifts count as graft. It's important to recognize the directional relationship. So ruling out gifts valued at $100+ does not exonerate police officers in the police captain's precinct from graft, which is pointed out in answer choice (B).

Incorrect Answers
(A) misidentifies the evidence, which is about all police officers in the captain's precinct.
(C) correctly describes the wrong flaw. There is no ad hominem attack.
(D) is out of scope. The issue of corruption goes beyond the scope of the police captain's argument.
(E) correctly describes the wrong flaw. There is no contradiction within the argument.

[ganbayou]

Thank you.
Just wanted to make sure, this is not whole/part flaw right?
(100 is part of graft...etc)

[JorgeL203]

I missed the part where it says that gifts of cash or objects valued at more than $100 COUNT as graft. I misread it to mean that these are the only things that are graft. Any advice on how to get better at recognizing these subtle, but important details?

[Misti Duvall]

I missed the part where it says that gifts of cash or objects valued at more than $100 COUNT as graft. I misread it to mean that these are the only things that are graft. Any advice on how to get better at recognizing these subtle, but important details?

Yep! The best thing you can do is review. No one catches everything at first; that's part of the learning process. But when you review, make a note of the little shifts you missed and think about why you missed them. Eventually, you'll start to catch more of them the first time.

It's a little tedious, but the best way to train your brain to read in a different way.

Hope this helps.