Which of the two given conclusions logically follows from the given statements, disregarding commonly known facts?
Statements:
No pen is a cake.
Some cakes are envelopes.
Some envelopes are bottles.
Conclusions:
I. Some cakes are bottles.
II. Some pens are bottles.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Neither conclusion I nor II follows
A conclusion follows only if it is true in every diagram that fits the statements. One diagram in which a conclusion fails is enough to reject it.
Conclusion I (Some cakes are bottles) does not follow: cakes meet envelopes and envelopes meet bottles, but the cakes that are envelopes need not be the envelopes that are bottles, as the diagram shows.
Conclusion II (Some pens are bottles) does not follow: the statements say only that no pen is a cake; they say nothing linking pens with bottles, so the two circles can be drawn apart.