Syllogism Tips and Tricks with Q&A

Syllogism Tips and Tricks: Syllogism questions might look easy but can be tricky. The questions of Syllogism does attract a lot of negative marking for the aspirants.

Types of Syllogism

Type 1: All A are B

Type 2: No A is B

Type 3: Some A are B

Type 4: Some A are not B

Conclusion Type:

Type 1: All A are B

Type 2: No A are B

Type 3: Some A are B

Type 4: Some A are not B

Type 5: All A are B is a possibilities

Type 6: All A are not B is a possibilities

Type 7: At least some A are B

Syllogism Tips and Tricks

They are basically logical arguments given to you for deductive reasoning. The aim is to reach to a conclusion by going through the arguments presented.

Example – ‘All humans are mortal; I am human; therefore I am mortal.’

The third statement derived is a conclusion or it’s basically truth or a fact derived from the first two statements.

Approach for solving syllogism questions:

Read the statements carefully and without any bias.
Follow the rules of syllogism to derive the right answer
The best trick in the book is to use Venn diagramns to arrive at the correct answer or a conclusion.

Yes, there are pre-set rules for syllogism.

Syllogism Tips and Tricks – Rules of Syllogism

Rule 1- All A are B, as per this rule all the elements of the first are put inside the second element.

Rule 2- No A are B, this just shows that there is no relationship between the two elements

Rule 3- Some A are B, this implies that some of the elements of A are part of some of the element of B

Rule 4- Some A are not B, this implies that some of the elements of A are not B.

Practice questions for Syllogism with Answer Key

Question 1:

In the question below there are three statements followed by two conclusions I and II. You have to take the three given statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts and then decide which of the given conclusions logically follows from the three statements disregarding commonly known facts.

Statements:

No questions are answers.

All answers are solutions.

No options are questions.

Conclusions:

I. A few questions may be solutions.

II. Some solutions being options is a possibility.

a. Only conclusion II follows

b. None of the above

c. Both conclusion I and conclusion II follow

d. Neither conclusion I nor conclusion II follows

e. Only conclusion I follows

Answer: c

Solution:

Following figure can be formed:

From the figure, both conclusion I and II follow.

Hence, option c.

Question 2:

Statements:

No nails are fingers.

A few fingers are hairs.

All nails are hands.

Conclusions:

I. No hands are fingers.

II. A few hairs being hands is a possibility.

a. Both conclusion I and conclusion II follow

b. Only conclusion II follows

c. Only conclusion I follows

d. Neither conclusion I nor conclusion II follows

e. None of these

Answer: b

Solution:

Following figure can be formed:

From the figure, only conclusion II follows.

Hence, option b.

Question 3:

In the question below there are three statements followed by three conclusions I, II and III. You have to take the three given statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts and then decide which of the given conclusions logically follows from the three statements disregarding commonly known facts.

Statements:

Only homes are houses.

Only few homes are huts.

Mostly huts are persons.

Conclusions:

I. All homes being huts is a possibility.

II. No persons are houses.

III. No persons are homes.

a. Only conclusion II follows

b. None of the above

c. Only conclusion III follows

d. Neither conclusion I nor conclusion II follows