Reasoning Syllogism Questions For Bank Exam: Reasoning Syllogisms form an integral part of the reasoning. Questions from this topic frequently appear in various Bank & MBA entrance exams like CAT, SNAP, IIFT, etc; Bank PO exams and other aptitude tests.
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Reasoning Syllogism Questions For Bank Exam
Download Reasoning Syllogism Questions PDF below, useful for banking IBPS, SBI, Insurance exams.
A syllogism is a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two or three given propositions or statements. It uses deductive reasoning rather than inductive reasoning. You have to take the given statements to be true, even if they are at variance from established facts.
What is Syllogism
Let us see an example of deductive reasoning.Statements:
- All cats are dogs.
- All dogs are birds.
Conclusion – All cats are birds.
This conclusion is quite visible. But to solve complex problems we have some standard methods.
Method 1- Analytical Method
Following are the four major types of statements generally asked:
| Sr. No. | Type of statement | Represented by the letter | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Universal Positive | A | All boys are handsome |
| 2 | Universal Negative | E | No girl is clever |
| 3 | Particular Positive | I | Some rats are dogs |
| 4 | Particular Negative | O | Some ships are not planes |
While deriving conclusions, the following points should be kept in mind:
- With two particular statements, no universal conclusion is possible.
- With two positive statements, no negative conclusion is possible.
- With two negative statements, no positive conclusion is possible.
- With two particular statements, no conclusion is possible, except when an ‘I’ type of statement is given and then by reversing it, an ‘I’ type of conclusion is given.
Important points related to conclusions drawn from single statements.
- A statement of type ‘E’ when reversed, gives a conclusion of type ‘E & O’.
- A statement of type ‘A’ when reversed, gives a conclusion of type ‘I’.
- A statement of type ‘I’ when reversed, gives a conclusion of type ‘I’
- A statement of type ‘O’ when reversed, does not give a conclusion of any type.
Method 2- Venn Diagrams
Another method of solving such type of questions is by drawing a Venn diagram representing the statements. However, it is important that all possible Venn diagrams be drawn. If a conclusion can be deduced from all the possible solutions then that conclusion is true. If the conclusion can be concluded from one of the possible Venn diagrams and not from the other possible Venn diagram then that conclusion is taken as false.
Syllogism Tricks To Solve Syllogism Questions
Various types of Venn diagram to solve Syllogism Questions
- All A’s are B’s.
In this type of Venn diagram, The smaller circle represents set A and the larger circle represents set B. The smaller circle A which is within the circle B, we can say that all- A’s are B. This is the basic diagram which we use to represent the statement- all A’s are B.
This is the second type of Venn diagram which is used to represent the statement all A’s are B. In this Venn diagram the circle A represents the set A. Now we can use the same circle to represent the set B. In this type, we can draw the conclusion that all -A’s are B.
The conclusion that can be taken from the above statement is that some- B’s are A.
- No A is B.
To represent this statement, we need to take a circle A and a circle B which are not related in any way or there is no overlapping of the circles. There is no other way in which we can represent the statement- No A is B.
The conclusion that can be taken from the above statement is- No B is A.
Some A’s are B
This is the basic diagram which can be drawn from the statement some A’s are B. We draw two circles A and B which overlap each other at a certain point, from this diagram we can conclude that some A’s are B. The overlapping section represent the statement some A’s are B.
There are other possibilities in which we can show that some A’s are B.
We draw a circle A and then draw a smaller circle B inside A. From this we can conclude that some A’s are B.
We generally assume the statement some A’s are B’s as all A’s are B.
The conclusion that can be taken from the above statement is that some B’s are A.
- Some A’s are not B.
The basic diagram which we use to represent this statement, we draw a circle A and then draw a circle B overlapping the circle A. The part o f the circle which doesn’t overlap represents the statement some A’s are not B.
There are more possibilities in which you can represent the statement some A’s are not B.
We draw a circle A and then draw a smaller circle B inside A. The part which doesn’t come inside the circle B, represents the statement- Some A’s are not B.
Some A’s are not B can be assumed as all the A’s are not B. So, we draw circle A and circle B away from each other as such that they don’t overlap each other.
We cannot draw any conclusion from the above statement.
Complimentary pair of statement
It is a set of two statements in which if one statement fails then the other statement is true.
When we toss a coin there are two possible outcomes – Head or Tail. So if the coin doesn’t show head then it will definitely show tail. Similarly, if the coin doesn’t show tails then it will definitely show head. Therefore, this is how a complimentary statement works.
There are two categories of complimentary statements in syllogisms.
1.No A is B; Some A’s are B’s
For one statement to be true the other statement should be false. To prove that Some A’s are B, one of the A should move out and mix be B to make the other statement true. When some A’s are B fails, No A is B becomes true.
- All A’s are B’s; Some A’s are not B.
For one statement to be false, the other statement should be true that is why- All A’s are B’s, and Some A’s are B’s, forms a complementary form of a statement.
There are two types of syllogism questions that are asked in IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, SBI PO, SBI Clerk, SSC CGL, SSC CHSL and other competitive exams.
Either the questions are asked on conclusions or possibilities. Let’s define both the terms.
Conclusion – A conclusion should be definitely true in all the cases.
Example: A is the wife of B = B is the husband of A.
In the above example, we can make out that if A is the wife of B then definitely B is the husband A. This is called as a conclusion- drawing definite facts from the given statement.
Possibility – A possibility is true only one case. There are no definite conclusions that can be drawn from the given statement. There is always a possibility of only one statement to be true.
Example: A is the son of B = B is the Parent of A
There are two possibilities that can be drawn from the above statement.
The parent can be a mother or a father. We can not predict whether B is Female or Male, so there is a possibility of any one of the statements to be true.
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