Read the given statements and conclusions carefully. Assuming that the information given in the statements is true, even if it appears to be at variance with commonly known facts, decide which of the given conclusions logically follow(s) from the statements. Statements: Some Mirrors are Decoratives. No Decorative is a Plant. All Plants are Trees. Conclusions: (I) Some Mirrors are Plants. (II) Some Decoratives are Trees.

Correct — A. Draw it: Mirrors and Decoratives overlap, Decoratives lies wholly outside Plants, and Plants lies inside Trees.

Conclusion (I) — the mirrors that are decoratives are barred from Plants, and the remaining mirrors are unconstrained, so an overlap with Plants is possible but not forced.

Conclusion (II) — Trees contains Plants and may contain much else, yet nothing pushes a decorative into it, so this too is possible but not forced.

Neither conclusion is compelled by the statements, which is option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Only conclusion (I) follows. — Only (I) treats a permitted overlap as a proved one. No statement places any mirror inside Plants, and the decorative mirrors are explicitly kept out of it.
• (c)
  Both conclusions (I) and (II) follow. — Both makes the same error twice — each conclusion describes an arrangement the statements allow rather than one they require.
• (d)
  Only conclusion (II) follows. — Only (II) needs some decorative to be a tree. Trees may reach beyond Plants, but nothing places a decorative in that outer part, so (II) is possible rather than proved.

A conclusion follows only if it holds in every diagram the statements permit. One counter-diagram is enough to reject it.

That is the whole difference between a conclusion and a possibility. Some Mirrors are Decoratives fixes an overlap, No Decorative is a Plant fixes a separation, and All Plants are Trees fixes a containment.

Nothing in that trio ties Mirrors to Plants or Decoratives to Trees, so both conclusions stay optional and the key is the one that rejects both.

Key facts

• A conclusion follows only if it is true in every diagram consistent with the statements.
• No Decorative is a Plant keeps the decorative mirrors out of Plants but says nothing about the other mirrors.
• All Plants are Trees allows Trees to contain members that are not plants.

Common traps

• Reading Some Mirrors are Decoratives as if it also placed mirrors against Plants.
• Taking All Plants are Trees to mean the two sets are the same.
• Accepting a conclusion because the statements allow it rather than require it.

No directly related past PYQ was found.