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Identify an entailment | Quick guide

A quick guide to questions that ask you to identify something that follows logically from a set of premises

Passages for these questions generally read like a series of statements. You might think of them as “support in search of a conclusion.”
The task: Can you find a guaranteed entailment —also sometimes called a deduction or implication—that follows logically from a combination of the provided facts?
In other words: If each statement in the passage is truth that’s set in stone, can you identify the only choice that must also be true?
Sometimes you’ll be able to predict what must be true, and other times you’ll need to test each choice.

Ways that you can predict, when applicable

✓ Look for relationships: Are there ways in which statements relate to each other? For example, does X connect with Y, which connects with Z? You can predict that X connects with Z.
✓ Diagram any conditional statements: Are there conditional statements that act like rules and make sense to diagram?
✓ Make a sketch: Is the situation complex enough to warrant a quick sketch of the action?
✓ Note strong language Are there strong statements to pay attention to, such as “all,” “must,” “any,” “ever,” “never” and “everyone”?
✓ Note weak language: Are there weaker, qualified statements, including words such as “some,” “many,” and “may,” “sometimes” “usually” and “often”? If the passage is entirely qualified, then it’s highly unlikely that a strong statement can follow from that passage.
✓ Match it! If you can make a prediction from these steps, then look for a choice that matches that prediction.

If you can’t make a prediction

✓ Try the Truth Test: Test each choice by asking yourself if that statement has to be true, based on the facts in the passage. You could also eliminate choices by asking whether the statement could acceptably be false. Be careful to not use this Truth Test on strongly supported questions!
✓ Don’t use your imagination! Resist the urge to “fill in the blanks yourself”, which usually entails adding assumptions to try to make a choice true.
✓ Read with precision! “Most” is not the same thing as “some”; “at least two” is not the same thing as “at most two”; “X can be dangerous” is not the same thing as “X shouldn’t be done.”

Common wrong choice types

  • Too strong/extreme: Some wrong choices are statements that go beyond the truth of the passage by being too extreme.
  • Probably/Might be true: Some wrong choices are statements that could very well be true but we can’t be 100% certain.
Top Tip: Don’t compare the choices with each other—rather, compare the choices against the statements in the passage. That will help you to avoid adding your own assumptions or picking the choice that “sounds best.”

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