CAT 1999 — DILR Question 3
Directions: Each question consists of five statements followed by options consisting of three statements put together in a specific order. Choose the option which indicates a valid argument, that is, where the third statement is a conclusion drawn from the preceding two statements.
Example:
A. All cigarettes are hazardous to health.
B. Brand X is a cigarette.
C. Brand X is hazardous to health.
Here, ABC is a valid option, where statement C can be concluded from statements A and B.
A. Apples are not sweets.
B. Some apples are sweet.
C. All sweets are tasty.
D. Some apples are not tasty.
E. No apple is tasty.
Answer & solution
CEA
- B
BDC
- C
CBD
- D
EAC
(a) CEA is the correct answer choice, as it forms a valid syllogism.
Figures
S = Sweets
TT = Tasty things
A = Apples
Sweets are a subset of tasty things. Apples are not tasty things. As apples are not a part of the main set of tasty things, they can also not be a part of the subset of sweets.
(b) BDC is invalid, because the set of some A that are S and the set of some A that are not TT may have no relationship with each other (disjoint sets).
(c) CBD is invalid, because some A that are S are definitely TT, but we have no knowledge of the remaining A, and hence can reach no conclusion about them.
(d) EAC is invalid, because if all A are neither S nor TT, we cannot establish a definite relationship between S and TT.