In each question below is given a statement followed by two conclusions…
2023
In each question below is given a statement followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to assume everything in the statement to be true, then consider the two conclusions together and decide which of them logically follows beyond a reasonable doubt from the information given in the statement.
Statements: Vegetable prices are soaring in the market.
Conclusions:
i. Vegetables are becoming a rare commodity.
ii. People cannot eat vegetables.
- A.
Only conclusion I follows
- B.
Only conclusion II follows
- C.
Either I or II follows
- D.
Neither I nor II follows
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
In Statement-and-Conclusion questions, a conclusion is judged to follow only when it is a certain, unavoidable inference drawn strictly from the words of the statement, never from an assumption, generalisation, or outside possibility that the statement itself does not establish. If a conclusion needs extra, unstated information to hold, it does not follow.
The given statement asserts only one fact: vegetable prices are soaring in the market. It says nothing about the quantity of vegetables available in the market or about people's practical ability to buy and consume them.
Conclusion I assumes that a price rise is caused by reduced supply. But prices can rise for reasons unconnected to scarcity, such as higher demand, transport cost, or taxation, so vegetables becoming rare is not something the statement establishes; it cannot be treated as a certain inference.
Conclusion II goes further still, turning a price increase into a total inability to eat vegetables. Even a steep rise in price does not make consumption impossible for people in general; this is an extreme over-reach that the statement does not support.
Because neither conclusion can be derived purely from the stated fact of rising prices, each one depends on an assumption the statement never makes, so treating either of them as certain would mean reading information into the statement that isn't there.
Since neither conclusion is a necessary consequence of the statement, the correct reading is that neither conclusion follows.