Statement and Conclusions
'Conclusion' means 'a fact that can truly be inferred from the contents of a given statement or passage'. It is an opinion or decision that is formed after a period of thought or research on some facts or sentence stated by someone. A consequent effect has always to be analysed before reaching to final result or conclusion of a given premise.
You are required to analyse the given statements, understand their direct/indirect implications and then decide which of the given conclusions follows logically.
e.g. Statement: Indian president is elected through secret ballot.
Conclusion:
Indian president is not the supreme officer of India.
Here, the statement gives us the information that the President of India is elected through a secret ballot which is absolutely true. Now, the conclusion given i.e., Indian President is not the supreme officer of Indian cannot be concluded from the statement, so it seems to be invalid. Also, according to the constitution it is an established fact that President is the supreme head or officer of India.
Hence, the given conclusion goes against the established fact, so it is invalid.
Important points to be considered while reaching on a conclusion.
• To reach to a conclusion think only about the given information. There is no need to use, assume anything else or add any further or extra information from outside.
• If definitive words like all, always, at least, only, exactly and so on are used, then such words make the conclusion invalid or ambiguous.
• If the conclusion is provided with a stated example, then the conclusion is invalid.
Type of Questions
There are two types of questions based on statement and conclusion which are generally asked in various competitive examinations.
Type #1: One Statement and Two Conclusions
In this type of questions, we have one statement and two conclusions. We have to analyse which of the conclusions support the statement.
Direction (Example Nos. 1-3) In each of the following questions, a statement is given followed by two conclusions numbered I and II.
Give Answer
(a) If only conclusion I follows
(b) If only conclusion II follows
(c) If either conclusion I or II follows
(d) If neither conclusion I nor II follows
(e) If both conclusions I and II follow
Example 1. 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.
Solution:
(b), Clearly, 'Too expensive to be bad' means that it cannot be bad because it is expensive it means that apples with higher cost are good. But conclusion I, short supply favours rising of price is irrelevant to the statement.
Example 2. Statement: Cases of bride burning for dowry are not uncommon.
Conclusions:
(I) Inspite of anti-dowry laws, the ill practice continues.
(II) The punishment inflicted on the party concerned is not sufficient.
Solution:
(a), These cases are not uncommon means inspite of anti-dowry laws, the ill practice continues.
Example 3. Statement: Only good men die on time.
Conclusions:
(I) No good people live till being old.
(II) Every person who live till being old is bad.
Solution:
(d), Both conclusions have the same meaning. Means bad person live till they are old. But according to statement, only good men die in time. Hence, neither I nor II follows.
Type #2: More than One Statement and Two/Three/Four Conclusions
In this type of questions, we deal with problems, which have more than one statements and two/three/four conclusions.
We have to analyse which of the conclusions supports the statement.
Direction (Example Nos. 4-5) In the following questions two statements are given followed by two conclusions I and II. You have consider the two statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts. You have to decide which of the given conclusions, if any follow from the given statements.
Give Answer
(a) Only conclusion I follows
(b) Only conclusion II follows
(e) Both conclusions I and II follow
(c) Either conclusion I or II follows
Example 4. Statement: 60% of government employees went on strike.
Mr. Gopal is a government employee.
Conclusions:
(I) Mr Gopal went on strike.
(II) Mr Gopal did not participate in the strike.
Solution:
(d), Either of the situation is possible. If Mr. Gopal was one of the member of 60% employers, then he went on strike. If he was not in group of 60%, then he did not participate in the strike.
Hence, either conclusion I or II follows.
Example 5. Statement:
Lawyers marry only fair girls.
Shobha is very fair.
Conclusions:
(I) Shobha is married to a lawyer.
(II) Shobha is not married to a lawyer.
Solution:
(d), The statement I is talking about a condition with the lawyer that they marry only fair girls. But it is not talking about any condition with Shobha. So, Shobha can marry either a lawyer or anyone else.
Example 6. Statements: Amit and Subhash are friends. Subhash is friendly with all. Amit has many enemies Rahul and Amit do not like each other.
Conclusions:
(I) Amit, Rahul and Subhash from a clique.
(II) Rahul and Subhash are friends.
(III) Subhash is friendly with Amit's friends.
(Iv) Amit and Rahul are both friends of Subhash.
The conclusion(s) correctly drawn is/are
(a) III and IV (b) II and III
(c) I and Iv (d) II, III and IV
Solution:
(d), According to the statement,
Amit's friend -----> Subhash .......... (i)
Subhash's friend ------> Amit, Rahul and friendly with all ......... (ii)
Rahul's friend ------> Subhash ........(iii)
Now from Eq. (iii), Conclusion II is correct that Rahul and Subhash are friends.
From Eq. (ii) Conclusion III is correct as Subhash is friendly with all thus he is friendly with Amit's friends also. From Eqs. (i) and (ii) , Conclusion IV is correct that Amit and Rahul are both friends of Subhash.
Shortcut Approach
4 GOLDEN RULES
#1: The conclusion must be in context of the statement. If out of context then it does not follow.
#2: The conclusion must support the contents of the statement. If it negates then it does not follow.
#3: The conclusion must be truly inferred. If there is some doubt that it may or may not be correct or truly inferred, then it does not follow.
#4: The conclusion must not repeat or rephrase the statement. If so, it does not follow.
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