When to count "probably" and similar words as part of a logic sequence

@dgunderman, Great question. Here's how I'd diagram this stimulus: residents don't band together-->proposal approved proposal approved-->able to build water and sewer systems needed for apartments apartments built-->population will increase population increases-->new roads will be built new roads or schools built-->substantial tax increases Notice that I left the overcrowded schools part out of my diagram because it's not certain. I would NOT diagram 'probably result in overcrowded schools' in my diagram because this is not conditional language. Based on what we have in our diagrams, we should look for transitive conclusions. Some of these statements do chain up. The first two statements chain up to tell us that if residents do not band together, then the city will be able to build the water and sewer systems. The rest of the premises in the stimulus combine to tell us that if apartments are built, taxes will increase. These two chains must stay separate because the water and sewer systems are necessary, but are not sufficient, for apartments to be built. (B) says, "If developers build apartment houses in Glen Hills, there will be substantial tax increases for the residents of Glen Hills." (B) looks great, as it's the conclusion that we got from the second string of premises in the stimulus. If apartments are built, then we know that there will be new residents who will require new roads, which means there will be tax hikes. Thus, (B) is the correct answer choice. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!