Reading Comprehension Flashcards
7 cards from real LNAT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Reading Comprehension flashcards as text
A passage states: 'Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable, yet courts continue to treat it as compelling evidence.' What rhetorical technique does this sentence use?
Answer: Juxtaposition — contrasting known unreliability with continued trust to highlight an inconsistency.
The sentence sets two contradictory facts side by side (known unreliability vs. continuing trust) to expose an apparent inconsistency in legal practice.
In a passage on criminal rehabilitation, the author distinguishes between 'reform-oriented' and 'punitive' approaches to imprisonment. The author's primary purpose in making this distinction is most likely to:
Answer: Clarify the conceptual framework before arguing that one approach is preferable.
Authors typically introduce distinctions to set up evaluative comparisons, establishing clear categories before making a normative case for one over the other.
A passage reads: 'The precautionary principle holds that where an action risks harm to the public or environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.' Which scenario best illustrates the correct application of this principle?
Answer: Regulators restrict use of a new industrial chemical pending further research on its long-term health effects.
The precautionary principle applies when harm is possible but causation is not yet fully established — restricting a chemical pending further research fits this exactly.
An author concludes a passage by writing: 'We must therefore choose between security and liberty.' A critic argues this is a false dilemma. What does the critic most likely mean?
Answer: The author has failed to consider that security and liberty might be compatible or that more than two options exist.
A false dilemma presents only two options when others exist; the critic is pointing out that security and liberty need not be mutually exclusive.
A passage on defamation law explains: 'A statement is defamatory only if it would lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society.' According to this definition, which of the following statements is most clearly defamatory?
Answer: A newspaper article falsely claiming a respected surgeon botched routine operations, leaving patients disabled.
Falsely claiming a surgeon caused patient harm would lower their reputation in the eyes of right-thinking people and meets the definition of defamatory.
A passage describes how some philosophers argue that animals have rights because they are 'sentient beings capable of suffering.' What is the underlying logical principle of this argument?
Answer: The capacity to suffer is a morally relevant characteristic that generates claims to protection.
The argument's foundation is that suffering matters morally and that beings capable of it deserve protection — a key premise in utilitarian and rights-based ethics.
A legal passage states: 'Intention is an essential element of murder but not of manslaughter.' Which of the following scenarios most clearly illustrates the legal distinction the passage describes?
Answer: Both A and C, since neither involves premeditated intent to kill.
Both the negligent driver and the participant in a fatal fight lack the intention to kill, making both examples of manslaughter rather than murder under this distinction.