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 vegetables are fruits. Some fruits are flowers. All flowers are garlands. Conclusions: I. Some garlands are fruits. II. Some vegetables are flowers. III. Some vegetables are garlands.

Correct — D. The statements are: some vegetables are fruits, some fruits are flowers, all flowers are garlands.

Conclusion I holds. Some fruits are flowers, and every flower is a garland, so those fruits are garlands, which is exactly some garlands are fruits.

Conclusion II joins two particular statements. Rule: two premises of the form some-are give no conclusion, because the fruits that are vegetables need not be the fruits that are flowers.

Conclusion III fails on the same break. Nothing ties vegetables to flowers, so nothing carries them on to garlands.

Conclusion I alone follows — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Only conclusions I and III follow — III needs vegetables to reach garlands, and the only route runs through flowers — a link two particular premises cannot supply. Option (a) accepts it anyway.
• (b)
  Only conclusions II and III follow — This drops I, the one conclusion the statements do force. All flowers are garlands is universal, so the fruits that are flowers must be garlands too.
• (c)
  Only conclusions I and II follow — II claims some vegetables are flowers. The vegetable-fruit overlap and the fruit-flower overlap need not be the same fruits, so the two overlaps may miss each other entirely.

Three rules settle almost every syllogism at this level.

First, two particular premises, both of the some-are form, yield nothing about the end terms. Second, a particular premise chained onto a universal one gives a particular conclusion. Third, a conclusion must hold in every diagram you can draw, not merely in the convenient one.

The chain that works here is some fruits are flowers plus all flowers are garlands, which forces some fruits are garlands and, converted, some garlands are fruits. The vegetables sit beyond a second some-are, so nothing about them is forced.

Key facts

• Two particular premises of the form some A are B support no conclusion linking the end terms.
• A particular premise chained to a universal one yields a particular conclusion, which is why conclusion I follows.
• Some garlands are fruits is the converse of some fruits are garlands, and a particular affirmative converts freely.

Common traps

• Reading some vegetables are fruits and some fruits are flowers as though they name the same fruits
• Accepting conclusion III because all flowers are garlands feels as if it carries everything upstream
• Choosing an option because two of its three conclusions are right

No directly related past PYQ was found.