Q2 - Advertisement: The pride the people at Austin

[mitrakhanom1]

I got confused on this question and picked the wrong answer C when the correct answer is B.

My premise:
Barr Motor Company has a tradition of pride similar to horse racing.

Conclusion:
Barr Company can be relied on to produce more winning automobiles than its competitors.

I didn't like answer choice B because it mentioned being "superior" and when I compared that to having similar pride and winning more than its competitors it seemed flawed. I felt being superior is too strong of language when compared to the argument.

I chose answer choice C thinking it was a better explanation. Clearly, I made a mistake. Please help!

[mahamansoor]

I got confused on this question and picked the wrong answer C when the correct answer is B.

My premise:
Barr Motor Company has a tradition of pride similar to horse racing.

Conclusion:
Barr Company can be relied on to produce more winning automobiles than its competitors.

I didn't like answer choice B because it mentioned being "superior" and when I compared that to having similar pride and winning more than its competitors it seemed flawed. I felt being superior is too strong of language when compared to the argument.

I chose answer choice C thinking it was a better explanation. Clearly, I made a mistake. Please help!

Hey there,

Your premise might be just a little bit off.

Premise 1: The pride of people in Austin produces winning horses MORE than their competitors.
Premise 2: Barr is like the people at Austin.
Conclusion: Barr produces more winning automobiles than competitors.

There are two problems that I could see with C.
1) We don't know if 'long-standing' is analogous to 'for generations' ('for generations' could mean 2 generations, which isn't that 'long-standing').
2) The advertisement is proving (aka arguing) that "it produces more winning automobiles" not that it has pride.

B on the other hand is touching upon the correct conclusion by the same method.

I'd also suggest you take a look at this thread about analogies. https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/foru ... 52&start=0

Hope this helped!

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, mitrakhanom1!

This is a great example of the dangers of 'hairsplitting'. The LSAT trains us to be laser-focused on language differences - small changes in wording can reveal huge changes in the true meaning of a phrase.

However, we can take that obsession with language differences too far.

If I say that Mary bakes more amazing cakes than Betty, it would be totally reasonable to say that I think Mary is better than Betty, or superior to Betty, in some way. "Superior" is just another way of saying "better", and more amazing cakes is, at least in one respect, "better". If Barr Motor Company produces more winning automobiles, it's not unreasonable to refer to that as Barr being "superior".

Mahamansoor raises a good point in regards to your premise rephrasing, as well. The real key to eliminating (C) is in the word "proving". (Here's where a single word makes a BIG MEANING difference!)

To prove something, we need some support for it. The advertisement just says that Barr has a tradition of pride - it's a premise offered up without any support whatsoever. The author hasn't proved it, he's just said it!

Fundamentally, we prove things (or try to prove things!) that are conclusions (or intermediary conclusions). Since the statement that Barr has a tradition of pride is not backed up by any support, the author hasn't proved it (or even tried to prove it)!

For the sake of future students, let's take a quick spin through the remaining incorrect answers:

(A) Repeat customers are never mentioned.

(D) This is the opposite of what the author is doing! The author suggests that the pride determines the success - if anything, the author might be OVERstating the role of pride!

(E) The author suggests that Barr is like Austin Stables in its tradition of pride. He never mentions how old the Austin tradition is, so no comparison of length is ever implied.

Please let me know if this helps clear up a few things!