Deductions means drawing a conclusion from the given statements. Typically, here each question consists of two statements on the basis of which a deduction has to be made. The answer has to be chosen from the given choices and that will be made the deduction made.
The two statements given in the question are called ‘premises’ and the answer, ‘the conclusion’.
Ex: All rats are cats……(1)
All cats are dogs…..(ii)
All rats are dogs….(ii)
In the given above example…. (i) and (ii) are said to be premises and (iii) s called as conclusion.
The premises normally start with the words All, No, Some and Some-Not.
The word ‘All’ has its synonyms as – Every, Any, Each, whereas the word ‘Some can also be replaced by These words are referred to as qualifier (also termed as quantifiers). Many, Few, A little, Most of, Much of, More etc.
A premise consists of a subject and a predicate wherein the first term in (1) rats is the subject and the cats is called as predicate. Similarly in (ii), the first term cats is called as subject and the second term dogs is called as predicate. The word that occurs in both the premises is called as middle term or common term.( In the above example cats is the middle term).
The premises are divided into:
a) Universal statements and
b) Particular statements
This classification of the premises into the above categories is dependent on the qualifier used in the premise. For example, the statements where “All” is used are called Universal statements and the statements where “Some” is used are called Particular statements.
Premises can also be divided into.
i) Positive(affirmative) statements and
ii) Negative statements
If there is a negative term like “Not” or “No” in the statement, it is called a negative premise. Otherwise it is called a positive premise or an affirmative statement.
The combination of the two different categories of classifications leads of four different premises as given Table I below :
| Universal affirmative | All rats are cats. |
| Particular affirmative | Some rats are cats. |
| Universal Negative | No rat is cat. |
| Particular Negative | Some rats are not cats. |
The subject or the predicate can be either distributed or not distributed in the given premise. The subject and the predicate are either distributed (√) or not distributed (X) depending on what kind of a statement it is (particular affirmative etc.) Table II shows the distribution pattern of the subject and the predicate.
| Subjects | Predicate | |
| Universal affirmative | √ | X |
| Particular affirmative | X | X |
| Universal Negative | √ | √ |
| Particular Negative | X | √ |
Note : √ – indicates distributed
X – indicates undistributed
Ex: i) All cars are buses. √X (UA) ii) Some apples are Bananas.XX (PA)
iii) No Lion is Tiger. √√ (UN) iv) Some radios are computers. X√ (PN)
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Exercise
Que 1) All horses are goats. All goats are animals.
Ans –
1) All animals are goats.
2) All horses are animals.
3) No horse is animal
4) 4) Both (1) & (2).
Que 2) All cabs are vehicles. Some cabs are cars.
Ans –
1) All cabs are cars.
2) No cab is car.
3) All cabs are cars.
4) None of these.
Que 3) No plane is scooter.
No scooter is cycle.
Ans –
1) No cycle is train.
2) No train is cycle.
3) Both (1) & (2).
4) None of these.
Que 4) All mothers are sisters. All sisters are goddess.
Ans –
1) All mothers are goddess.
2) Some mothers are not goddess.
3) Many mothers are goddess.
4) Both (1) & (2).
Que 5) All cats are dogs. No dogs are rats.
Ans –
1) All cats are rats.
2) Some cats are rats.
3) No cat is rat.
4) None of the above
Que 6) No actor is hero. All men are hero
Ans –
1) All actors are men.
2) Some actors are men.
3) No actor is men.
4) None of the above
Que 7) Some hammers are tools. All tools are made up of iron.
Ans –
1) Some hammers are made of iron.
2) Some hammers are not made of iron
3) No hammer is made of iron.
4) None of the above.
Que 8) No Negro is fair. Some Europeans are fair.
Ans-
1) No Negro is European.
2) Some Negros are Europeans
3) All European People are Negros.
4) None of the above.
Que 9) Some metals are not objects. All metals are made of iron.
Ans-
1) Some objects are made of iron.
2) All objects are not made of iron.
3) Some things made of iron are not objects
4) None of the above.
Que 10) Some tigers are lions. All lions are cheetahs.
Ans-
1) No tigers are cheetahs
2) Some tigers are cheetahs
3) All tigers are cheetahs.
4) None of the above
Que 11) All spoons are cups. No cups are plates.
Ans-
1) All spoons are plates.
2) No spoon is plate.
3) Some spoons are plates.
4) All of the above
Que 12) No chair is table. No table are television.
Ans-
1) No chair is television.
2) Some chairs are televisions.
3) All chairs are televisions.
4) None of these
Que 13) No tower is pillar. Some pillars are poles.
Ans-
1) Some poles are not towers.
2) No pole is tower.
3) Some towers are not poles.
4) None of the above
Que 14) Some ducks are birds. No swan is a bird.
Ans-
1) Some ducks are birds.
2) Some swans are not ducks.
3) Some ducks are not swans
4) Both (1) & (2).