The LSAT testmakers see every RESULT of an If-Then statement as a...

The LSAT testmakers see every RESULT of an If-Then statement as a...

• A. Sufficient term
• B. Necessary term
• C. Contingent term
• D. Consequence term

Answer: (B)

In a conditional statement like “If P, then Q,” the thing that comes after the if is what results from the condition. The condition P is enough to produce Q, so P is a sufficient condition for Q. But Q is required for P to hold true—without Q, P cannot be true. In other words, the result of an If-Then statement is a necessary condition for the antecedent. The LSAT writers emphasize this: the consequence must occur if the condition is met, even though the consequence on its own doesn’t guarantee that the condition happened. For example, if someone is a bachelor, then they are unmarried. Being unmarried is a necessary condition for being a bachelor (a bachelor must be unmarried), though being unmarried does not by itself guarantee bachelor status.

In a conditional statement like “If P, then Q,” the thing that comes after the if is what results from the condition. The condition P is enough to produce Q, so P is a sufficient condition for Q. But Q is required for P to hold true—without Q, P cannot be true. In other words, the result of an If-Then statement is a necessary condition for the antecedent. The LSAT writers emphasize this: the consequence must occur if the condition is met, even though the consequence on its own doesn’t guarantee that the condition happened. For example, if someone is a bachelor, then they are unmarried. Being unmarried is a necessary condition for being a bachelor (a bachelor must be unmarried), though being unmarried does not by itself guarantee bachelor status.