LSAT Role of a Statement questions: what that sentence is doing there

A Role of a Statement question quotes one sentence from the passage and asks what function it serves. Stems read "the statement that … plays which one of the following roles in the argument" or ask what role a claim plays. You are not asked whether the sentence is true, and you are not asked whether the argument works.

Find the conclusion first. Always.

Every role on this question type is defined by its relationship to the main conclusion, so until you know which sentence that is, none of the answers can be evaluated. Locate the conclusion, then ask where the quoted sentence sits relative to it: does it support the conclusion, does it get supported by something else, is it the conclusion, or is it none of those?

That last option matters more than students expect. Plenty of quoted sentences are background, a concession, or somebody else's position — sentences that are in the passage without being part of the argument's support structure at all.

The roles that recur

• The main conclusion — the thing everything else is there to establish.
• A premise directly supporting the main conclusion.
• An intermediate conclusion — supported by earlier evidence, and itself supporting the main conclusion. The most commonly missed role, because it is both a conclusion and a premise depending on which way you look.
• Background — sets the scene, supports nothing.
• A concession — a point granted to the other side, often after "admittedly" or "while it is true that".
• An opposing position the author argues against.
• An illustration or example of a claim made elsewhere.

The intermediate conclusion, which is where these are won

Say a passage argues: attendance has risen every year since the renovation, so the renovation clearly drew new visitors, and the council should therefore fund the second phase. The middle claim — the renovation drew new visitors — is supported by the attendance figures and supports the funding recommendation. Quote that sentence and the credited answer will say something like "a claim the argument supports and then uses to support its main conclusion".

Students who identify it as the main conclusion get these wrong, and the trap answer describing it that way is always present. The test: is anything else in the passage relying on this sentence? If yes, it is not the final conclusion.

• Calls a premise the conclusion, or the reverse. The dominant trap, and the reason the conclusion must be found first.
• Describes the role accurately for a DIFFERENT sentence in the passage.
• Adds a judgment. "An unsupported assumption the argument requires" says something about quality that a role question did not ask.
• Right role, wrong direction. Says the sentence supports something it is actually supported by.