Three statements are given, followed by three conclusions numbered I, II and III. Assuming the statements to be true, even if they seem to be at variance with commonly known facts, decide which of the conclusions logically follow(s) from the statements. Statements: All spoons are forks. All forks are knives. No knife is a spatula. Conclusions: I. Some knives are spoons. II. No fork is a spatula. III. Some spoons are spatulas.

Correct — C. Chain the three statements: spoons sit inside forks, forks sit inside knives, and knives and spatulas do not meet at all.

Conclusion I — every spoon is therefore a knife, and there is at least one spoon, so some knives are spoons follows.

Conclusion II — forks lie wholly inside knives, and no knife is a spatula, so no fork is a spatula follows.

Conclusion III — spoons are knives too, so no spoon can be a spatula, and III fails. I and II stand, which is option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Neither conclusion follows — Neither conclusion follows cannot hold. All spoons are forks and all forks are knives place every spoon inside knives, and that is conclusion I.
• (b)
  Only conclusion III follows — Only III inverts the third statement. No knife is a spatula, and every spoon is a knife, so a spoon being a spatula is impossible rather than merely unproved.
• (d)
  Only conclusion I follows — Only I stops one step early. It misses that forks also lie inside knives, so the spatula bar reaches forks as well and II follows.

Two rules settle this item.

A universal chain — All A are B, All B are C — puts A wholly inside C, and the key treats Some C are A as following from it.

A negative universal passes down the same chain: if no C is D, then nothing inside C is D either, so neither B nor A can be D.

Here spoons inside forks inside knives carries both readings: I is the positive one, II is the negative one landing on forks.

Key facts

• All spoons are forks plus all forks are knives places every spoon inside knives.
• A negative universal about knives blocks forks and spoons as well.
• The key counts Some knives are spoons as following from All spoons are knives.

Common traps

• Rejecting conclusion I because All spoons are knives was never printed as a statement.
• Stopping after conclusion I and never testing II against the negative statement.
• Reading No knife is a spatula as leaving room for a spoon that is a spatula.

No directly related past PYQ was found.