Free Syllogisms MCQs with Answers
40 Syllogisms MCQs from Analytical and Logical Reasoning, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
Syllogisms use categorical statements such as all, some and no to establish relationships between groups. Questions require checking whether conclusions necessarily follow from the premises, often by mental set relationships or Venn diagrams, and distinguishing valid deductions from conclusions that are merely possible.
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1. If all surgeons are doctors and some doctors are researchers, which conclusion definitely follows?
- A. All surgeons are researchers
- B. Some surgeons are researchers
- C. All researchers are doctors
- D. No conclusion about surgeons and researchers definitely follows
Explanation: The researchers who are doctors might all be non-surgeons, so nothing definite links surgeons to researchers.
Correct answer: No conclusion about surgeons and researchers definitely follows- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. possibly true only
- D. contradictory
Explanation: Two universal affirmative premises that share a middle term chain together, placing roses inside flowers and flowers inside plants.
Correct answer: valid- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. certainly true
- D. partly true
Explanation: Both groups sit inside mammals, but nothing forces them to overlap each other, so they may be entirely separate as in fact they are.
Correct answer: invalid- A. Some pens are papers
- B. All pens are papers
- C. No pen is a paper
- D. All papers are pens
Explanation: The pens that are books must also be papers, so at least some pens are papers, while nothing is known about the rest.
Correct answer: Some pens are papers- A. Some drivers are not students
- B. No driver is a student
- C. All drivers are careless
- D. Some students are drivers
Explanation: The drivers who are careless cannot be students, since no student is careless, so at least some drivers fall outside the student group.
Correct answer: Some drivers are not students- A. Some doctors are poets
- B. No doctor is a poet
- C. All writers are doctors
- D. No definite conclusion follows
Explanation: Both premises are particular, and two particular premises can never yield a definite conclusion, because the two overlapping groups of…
Correct answer: No definite conclusion follows7. Statements: All engineers are graduates. Some graduates are unemployed. Which conclusion follows?
- A. Some engineers are unemployed
- B. No engineer is unemployed
- C. No definite conclusion about engineers follows
- D. All unemployed people are graduates
Explanation: The unemployed graduates may all lie outside the engineer group, so nothing definite follows about engineers either way.
Correct answer: No definite conclusion about engineers follows- A. deductive reasoning that is valid
- B. inductive reasoning
- C. an invalid conclusion
- D. circular reasoning
Explanation: A general rule is applied to a specific case, which is deduction, and if the premises are true the conclusion cannot be false.
Correct answer: deductive reasoning that is valid- A. Some sharks can fly
- B. No shark can fly
- C. All flying things are fish
- D. Some fish are sharks only
Explanation: Sharks lie entirely within fish, and fish are entirely excluded from the flying category, so sharks are excluded too.
Correct answer: No shark can fly- A. Some teachers are not dancers
- B. No teacher is a dancer
- C. All teachers are singers
- D. Some dancers are teachers
Explanation: The teachers who are singers cannot be dancers, which establishes that some teachers are not dancers.
Correct answer: Some teachers are not dancers- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. always true
- D. possibly true
Explanation: A is inside B, and B is entirely separate from C, so no A can be C at all, which makes the proposed conclusion the exact opposite of what…
Correct answer: invalid- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. contradictory
- D. irrelevant
Explanation: If all squares are quadrilaterals and squares exist, then some quadrilaterals must be squares, which is a valid conversion of a universal…
Correct answer: valid- A. Sana is a graduate
- B. Sana is not a graduate
- C. All graduates applied
- D. Nothing follows
Explanation: The word only makes graduation a necessary condition for applying, so a successful applicant must be a graduate.
Correct answer: Sana is a graduate- A. Some birds are green
- B. All birds are green
- C. No bird is green
- D. All green things are birds
Explanation: The birds that are parrots must be green, so some birds are certainly green, while the other birds could be any colour.
Correct answer: Some birds are green- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. necessarily true
- D. self evident
Explanation: The gases among fluids need not overlap with the liquids at all, and in reality they do not, so the conclusion does not follow from the…
Correct answer: invalid- A. at least one premise is particular
- B. both premises are universal
- C. one premise is negative
- D. both premises are negative
Explanation: A universal conclusion requires universal support, so any particular premise limits the conclusion to some.
Correct answer: both premises are universal- A. Some rich people are not politicians
- B. No rich person is a politician
- C. All rich people are honest
- D. Some politicians are rich
Explanation: The rich people who are honest cannot be politicians, so at least some rich people fall outside the politician group.
Correct answer: Some rich people are not politicians- A. the conclusion that no A is C
- B. the conclusion that all A are C
- C. no valid conclusion
- D. the conclusion that some A are C
Explanation: Nothing links A and C when both premises merely exclude, so A and C might overlap completely, partly or not at all.
Correct answer: no valid conclusion- A. Some medicines are foods
- B. No medicine is a food
- C. All foods are drugs
- D. Some drugs are medicines only
Explanation: Medicines lie inside drugs, and drugs are wholly excluded from foods, so medicines are excluded as well.
Correct answer: No medicine is a food- A. valid
- B. invalid
- C. necessarily true
- D. identical to the premise
Explanation: Only the hardworking students are guaranteed success, so the valid conclusion is that some students succeed, not all.
Correct answer: invalidSyllogisms MCQs: common questions
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