In this question below are given two statements followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to take the given two statements to be true even if they seem to be conclusions and then decide which of the given conclusions logically and analytically follows from the given two statements.

STATEMENTS:

• All goats are flowers.
• No flower is book
• Some books are pens

CONCLUSIONS:

I. Some pens are goats.

II. No pen is goat

1. A

   if only conclusion I follows.

2. B

   if only conclusion II follows.

3. C

   if either conclusion I or II follows.

4. D

   if both conclusion I and II follow

Appeared in: WCL Staff Nurse - 2022

Explanation

• The problem involves analyzing three statements to determine the validity of two conclusions.
• The statements establish that 'Goats' are a subset of 'Flowers', and 'Flowers' are completely separate from 'Books'. This implies 'Goats' and 'Books' are also separate.
• The statement 'Some books are pens' means the 'Books' and 'Pens' sets overlap.
• The relationship between 'Pens' and 'Goats' is not definitively established by the statements, creating two possibilities: they either overlap ('Some pens are goats') or they do not ('No pen is goat').
• Since the two conclusions are a 'Some/No' pair (an I-E complementary pair) and neither is certain on its own, the 'Either/Or' condition applies. One of the two must be true in any valid scenario.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

• Option A: This conclusion, 'Some pens are goats', is only a possibility, not a certainty. The 'Pens' circle could intersect 'Books' without ever touching the 'Goats' circle.
• Option B: This conclusion, 'No pen is goat', is also only a possibility, not a certainty. The part of the 'Pens' circle that is not intersecting with 'Books' is free to overlap with the 'Goats' circle.
• Option D: Both conclusions cannot follow simultaneously. They are mutually exclusive; it is impossible for there to be 'some pens that are goats' and also 'no pen that is a goat' at the same time.

Related Visual

Clinical Relevance

• Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Syllogisms and Logical Deduction as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
• While not a clinical question, logical reasoning is a critical skill for nurses.
• Nurses use deductive and inductive reasoning to interpret patient symptoms, lab results, and medical histories to form a nursing diagnosis (e.g., 'All patients with X condition show Y symptom; this patient has Y symptom; therefore, they might have X condition').
• This skill helps in prioritizing care, making sound clinical judgments, and avoiding errors by evaluating different possibilities before reaching a conclusion.

How to Approach the Question

• First, identify the type of question. This is a syllogism, which requires logical deduction.
• Translate each statement into a visual relationship, preferably using Venn diagrams. 'All A are B' means circle A is inside circle B. 'No A is B' means circles A and B are separate. 'Some A are B' means circles A and B overlap.
• Combine the diagrams from all statements to see the overall relationship between all categories.
• Evaluate each conclusion against your combined diagram. A conclusion is only 'definitely true' if it holds in all possible valid diagrams.
• If neither conclusion is definite, check if they form a complementary pair (e.g., 'Some A are B' and 'No A are B'). If they do, the answer is 'Either/Or'.

Concept Tested & Keywords

• Concept Tested: Syllogisms and Logical Deduction
• Stem keywords: All goats are flowers, No flower is book, Some books are pens, Syllogism, Logical Reasoning
• Lead-in keywords: decide which of the given conclusions logically and analytically follows

Question ID

Q-IfVTwzS05kuClIGqW8Oc

Copy ID

Reference Book

E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 3166-3168

E6 Psychology Morgan King 9e Part 2 p. 67-69