Advice for avoiding false inferences?

[hurricane]

Other than just reading carefully, can someone provide tricks to avoid false inferences? It's so easy to have one minor error completely screw you, that I find myself spending too much time diagramming each rule...almost as much as the diagram to solve the game!

[Ashley O]

You mean like NOT making an unwarranted inference? The best way to do that is to study as many games as possible and learn what inferences you CAN draw. If you know what is valid, then you will also know what is invalid.

Are there any specific mistakes you already made that you can point out?

[Tailgator2010]

I'll tell you one that killed me: the phrase "either...or" doesn't mean just one. It means at least one.

I made the mistake on a game of thinking that it meant that only one could be in the group and it was bye-bye time. 

[Tailgator2010]

Just thought of another one that killed me. It was a game about fruits, and the rule was like if apple is not picked then peach is picked. I thought that meant they both couldn't be picked. Boy, was I wrong. What has to happen is one is picked, and so both can be picked. I learned that one the hard way.

[hurricane]

Tailgator - yeah, that is exactly the sorta thing I mean.

It's not really an issue with specific questions. In general, I just keep making stupid mistakes where I believe something to be true, and it turn out it's not...therefore screwing the entire game.

I try to diagram the rules, but it's really difficult to make them make as much sense...so I end up looking back at the rules for each question, and spend too much time.



Sorry for being so vague...I probably just need to get a tutor or something.