The question below is followed by two statements numbered I and II. Choose the option that describes whether the statements are sufficient to answer the question.
In a certain code language, each word is always written with the same code word, different words have different code words, and the code words need not be in the same order as the words. What is the code for ‘green’?
I. ‘sa ni po’ means ‘green tea leaves’, and ‘po ra’ means ‘green field’.
II. ‘ve po’ means ‘green apple’, and ‘ve zo’ means ‘apple pie’.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The question can be answered by using either statement alone.
A word that appears in two sentences takes the code word common to both codes; once a word’s code is known, the other word of a two-word sentence takes the remaining code word.
Statement I alone:
‘green’ is the only word common to both sentences, and ‘po’ is the only code word common to both codes
So green = po: sufficient
Statement II alone:
‘apple’ is common to both sentences and ‘ve’ to both codes, so apple = ve
In ‘ve po’ = ‘green apple’, the code word left for ‘green’ is ‘po’, so green = po: sufficient