SYLLOGISM – A VERY IMPORTANT PORTION FOR NTA NET EXAMS. PART-2

Rules of Syllogism

Learn the rules given below to ace the basic syllogism questions. After learning these rules you will answer all the basic questions within five seconds.

NO CONCLUSION means anything is possible. There is no confirmed statement.
Now solve the following questions.
I) STATEMENT
1.All bats are toys.
2. All toys are expensive.
CONCLUSION– All bats are expensive (ALL+ALL=ALL rule applied and common element is placed according to first and last rule)

II) STATEMENT
1.All Boys are tall.
2. No tall are girls.
CONCLUSION– No boys are girls.(ALL+NO=NO rule applied)
III) STATEMENT
1.Some red green.
2. All green are blue.
CONCLUSION– Some red are blue.(SOME+ALL=SOME)
IV) STATEMENT
1.No house is expensive.
2.All expensive are palaces.
CONCLUSION Some palaces are not house.

V) STATEMENT
1.No book is red.
2.No red is pen.
CONCLUSION– No conclusion can be derived from these statements (NO+NO=NO CONCLUSION)
That means we can’t derive a definite conclusion from these statements.
However any possibility remains true.
For example – Some pen are not book is a possibility is true because it is a mere possibility.

Solving three or four sentences using rules of Syllogism

STATEMENT
1) All bricks are red.
2) All red are hard.
3) All hard are durable.
Can we say- All bricks are durable? Yes!
First take the sentenes1) and 2) – Common element is arranged diagonally in last part of first sentence and first part of second sentence.

Since the common element is arranged properly we can apply the ALL+ALL=ALL rule and arrive at a definite conclusion: All bricks are hard.(4)
Now combine (4) and (3).

Again common element is arranged correctly. Now apply ALL+ALL=ALL rule again and we can derive a definite conclusion: All bricks are durable.

So basically we derive conclusion between ‘n’ numbers of sentences if common element is placed in a proper order.

Exercise

1.STATEMENT
i)Some apples are oranges.
ii)All oranges are mangoes.
iii)All mangoes are grapes.
State which of the following conclusions are true from the above statements.

1.Some oranges are apples.(True)
2.Some apples are mangoes.(Some+All=Some)
3.Some oranges are mangoes.(True)
4.Some apples are not mangoes.(False)
5.All oranges are grapes.(True, since All+All=All)
6.Some grapes are oranges.(True, since all oranges are grapes is proved we can also say some oranges are grapes, which can be further reversed as Some grapes are oranges.)
7.Some apples are not grapes.(False ,No such rule is there. But there can be a possibility).
Possibility and condition of complimentary pair in syllogism is discussed in next blog.