Directions: In each of the following questions, a statement or two are followed by two conclusions. Give answer
(a) if conclusion I follows
(b) if conclusion II follows
(c) if both I and II follow
(d) if either I or II follows; and
(e) if neither I nor II follows.
1. Statement: Ten persons who were on the waiting list could finally get berth reservation in the Frontier Mail.
Conclusions: I. Wait-listed passengers generally find it difficult to get berth reservation in the Frontier Mail.
II. The number of berths available in the
Frontier Mail is small.
2. Statement: Parents are prepared to pay any price for an elite education to their children.
Conclusions: I. All parents these days are very well-off.
II. Parents have an obsessive passion for a perfect development of their children through good schooling.
3. Statement: I. Mud houses are cooler in summers than stone-and-brick houses.
II. Mud houses are occupied by the poor only.
Conclusions: I. Poor people are more comfortable in summers than the rich.
II. Stone-and-brick houses are more sophisticated than mud houses.
4. Statement: Patients with minor ailments usually do not go to eminent doctors.
Conclusions: I. Eminent doctors remain too busy with patients suffering from serious complications.
II. Their charges are rather high.
5. Statement: The use of non-conventional sources of energy will eliminate the energy crisis in the world.
Conclusions: I. Modern technology is gradually replacing the conventional sources of energy.
II. The excessive exploitation of environment has led to depletion of conventional sources of energy.
6. Statement: The increase in adult literacy will lead to the country’s development and progress.
Conclusions: I. The educated persons offer less resistance to new innovations.
II. The country’s population is totally illiterate.
7. Statement: In a one-day cricket match, the total runs made by a team were 200. Out of these 160 runs were made by the spinners.
Conclusions: I. 80% of the team consists of spinners.
II. The opening batsmen were spinners
8. Statement: The doctors nursed only those bleeding wounds which were caused by bullets. A patient X was bleeding profusely.
Conclusions: I. X was nursed by the doctors.
II. The doctors did not nurse X.
9. Statement: Apart from the educational value of newspaper, their
entertainment value should also be realised.
Conclusions: I. People take newspaper to be a means of education.
II. The entertainment value of newspapers is realised properly.
10. Statement: These apples are too expensive to be bad.
Conclusions: I. When apples are in short supply, the prices go up.
II. The higher the selling price, the superior is the quality of the commodity.
11. Statement: In deserts, camels are indispensable for people to travel from one place to another.
Conclusions: I. Camels are the only cheapest mode of transport available in deserts.
II. There are plenty of camels in deserts.
12. Statement: Of all the television sets manufactured in India, the ‘solar’ brand has the largest sale.
Conclusions: I. The volume of sales of all the brands of television sets manufactured in India is known.
II. The production of no other television set in India is as large as that of ‘solar’.
13. Statement: I. The TV programmes telecast specially for women are packed with a variety of recipes and household hints.
II. A major portion of magazines for women also contains the items mentioned above.
Conclusions: I. Women are not interested in other things.
II. An average woman’s primary interest lies in home and specially in the kitchen.
14. Statement: Cases of bride-burning for dowry are not uncommon.
Conclusions: I. In spite of anti-dowry laws, the ill practice continues.
II. The punishment inflicted on the party concerned is not sufficient.
15. Statement: Players who break various records in a fair way get special prizes. Player X broke the world record but was found to be under the influence of a prohibited drug.
Conclusions: I. X will get the special prize.
II. X will not get the special prize.
16. Statement: I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Conclusions: I. The writer’s knowledge is very poor.
II. The world of knowledge is too vast to be explored by a single person.
17. Statement: The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.
Conclusions: I. Even an unscrupulous person has some principles.
II. The real wisdom is to be found in scriptures.
18. Statement: I. Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
II. Extensive reading makes a complete man.
Conclusions: I. Pointed and precise expression comes only through extensive writing.
II. Extensive reading makes a complete man.
19. Statement: Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
Conclusions: I. Fashion designers do not understand people’s mind very well.
II. People by and large are highly susceptible to novelty.
20. Statement: All those political prisoners were released on bail who had gone to jail for reasons other than political dharnas. Bail was not granted to persons involved in murders.
Conclusions: I. No political prisoner had committed murder.
II. Some politicians were not arrested.
KEY
1 – A, 2 – B, 3 – E, 4 – D, 5 – B, 6 – E, 7 – E, 8 – D, 9 – A, 10 – B, 11 – E, 12 – A, 13 – B, 14 – A, 15 – D, 16 – B, 17 – E, 18 – B, 19 – E, 20 – E.
Answers with Explanations
1 – a, The use of ‘could’ implies a difficulty in obtaining reservation. Hence, conclusion I is valid. Conclusion II is not certain.
2 – b, Since all parents are not very well off it must mean that all of them are driven by a desire as mentioned in conclusion II.
3 – e, Since the poor live in mud houses and mud houses are cooler in summer, it means that poor people would have been more comfortable in summer, had everything else remained the same. But
what about the coolers and air-conditioners that rich people have?
Conclusion II is irrelevant to the given statement.
4 – d, Only one of the two reasons mentioned could stop patients from going to eminent doctors.
5 – b, The statement says that the user of non-conventional energy sources will replace the energy crisis. It does not say that the replacement is already on. Hence, the first conclusion is invalid.
The second is valid because there is an energy crisis.
6 – e, The given conclusions are far-fetched and not certain.
7 – e, Neither of the conclusion is certain. May be only one spinner made 160 runs.
8 – d, Although no certain conclusion can be derived because it is not given whether X was hit by a bullet or not, yet one of the two conclusions must be true.
9 – a, The first does follow because the tone of the statement is that educational value of newspapers is given due importance while its entertainment value is not. Clearly, the second conclusion is
invalid.
10 – b, The first conclusion is irrelevant. The second is the meaning of the given statement. ‘Too expensive to be bad’ means that it can’t be bad because it is expensive.
11 – e, The statement merely says that camels are very useful for deserts. It does not state whether they are cheap or available in large number.
12 – a, The first conclusion is obviously true; otherwise how could one know that the brand has the largest sale? The second speaks of ‘production’ and not ‘sale’, and hence it is not certain.
13 – b, From the two facts given the second conclusion seems valid. But the first conclusion is fallacious as it declares that women are not interested in anything else.
14 – a, The first conclusion is obviously valid as it is a restatement of the given sentence. The second may or may not be true.
15 – d, What happens to players who broke records with the help of drugs is not given. Hence either the player will receive the prize or he will not.
16 – b, The authors tone implies that he knows some things but does not know so many more; that he is practically ignorant of everything. This means conclusion II is valid.
17 – e,
18 – b, Conclusion I is vague, nothing has been mentioned about ‘expressions’. II is obvious.
19 – e, None of the conclusions is in any way related to the given statement.
20 – e, None of the conclusions can be definitely asserted in the light of the given statement.