कथन और निष्कर्ष

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Statement & Conclusion

1. What You Will Learn

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Understand what a Statement and a Conclusion really mean in exam language.
• Decide, in seconds, whether a conclusion definitely follows from a statement or not.
• Handle the standard answer formats: *Only I follows*, *Only II follows*, *Either I or II follows*, *Neither follows*, *Both follow*.
• Spot the traps examiners plant — extreme words, emotional wording, and "almost correct" conclusions.
• Solve these questions in 30–40 seconds each with full confidence.

2. The Hook: The Judge Inside Your Head

Imagine you are a judge. A lawyer stands up and says only this:

> "It rained heavily in the city last night."

Now two conclusions are placed before you:

• Conclusion I: The streets were wet in the morning.
• Conclusion II: The city's drainage system is poor.

Can you honestly declare both guilty of being true? The first one — yes, it follows naturally. The second one — the lawyer never said anything about drainage. Maybe the drainage is excellent and still the streets were wet. A good judge never goes beyond the evidence.

That judge is you in the exam hall. The statement is the *only* evidence you have. The moment you use your outside knowledge, opinions, or assumptions — you lose the mark. This single idea is the heart of this entire chapter.

3. The Common Struggle (You Are Not Alone)

Almost every student makes the same mistake here: they treat the statement as a *starting point for a debate* instead of a *closed box of facts*.

Typical wrong thinking:

• "Well, in real life this usually happens, so the conclusion must follow."
• "The conclusion sounds sensible and positive, so it must be correct."
• "Both conclusions look related to the topic, so both must follow."

The examiner knows you think like this. That is exactly why conclusions are written to sound reasonable, moral, or practical — while not actually following from the statement. In this chapter, we will train you to think like the judge, not like a debater.

4. Chunk 1 — What Is a Statement?

A Statement is a sentence or a short passage given in the question. For the exam, it is:

• Always assumed to be TRUE — even if it sounds false in real life.
• The complete and only source of information.
• Not to be questioned, doubted, or extended.

Example:
> Statement: "All the students of Class X who scored above 90% received a scholarship."

Even if you personally know a school where this didn't happen — forget it. Inside this question, this statement is the law.

🧠 Active Recall: In a Statement & Conclusion question, are you allowed to use your real-world knowledge to judge the statement? Why not?

5. Chunk 2 — What Is a Conclusion?

A Conclusion is a statement that must be definitely and necessarily true if the given statement is true.

The golden test — ask yourself:

> "If the statement is 100% true, is this conclusion forced to be true? Or is it merely *possible*?"

• Definitely true → Conclusion follows ✅
• Probably true / possibly true / true in real life → Conclusion does NOT follow ❌

Example:
> Statement: "Some doctors in the city hospital are cardiologists."
> - Conclusion I: Some cardiologists work in the city hospital. ✅ (directly follows — "some doctors are cardiologists" means those cardiologists are in that hospital)
> - Conclusion II: Cardiology is the most difficult branch of medicine. ❌ (the statement says nothing about difficulty)

🧠 Active Recall: What is the difference between a conclusion that is "possibly true" and one that "definitely follows"? Which one earns the mark?

6. Chunk 3 — The Golden Rules

Rule 1: The statement is the whole universe

Nothing exists outside it. No general knowledge, no news, no personal experience.

Rule 2: "Definite" beats "Probable"

A conclusion must be certain, not just likely. Words like *may, might, could, possibly* in a conclusion usually mean it does not follow — unless the statement itself supports that possibility.

Rule 3: Beware of extreme words

Conclusions containing all, every, always, never, none, only, completely are usually traps. Unless the statement itself uses such absolute language, an extreme conclusion does not follow.

> Statement: "A few employees of the company were found taking bribes."
> Conclusion: "All employees of the company are corrupt." ❌ (extreme word "all" — classic trap)

Rule 4: Suggestions and advice are NOT conclusions

If a sentence tells what *should be done* ("The government should…", "People must…"), it is a course of action, not a conclusion. It does not follow unless the question asks for courses of action.

Rule 5: Don't add morality or emotion

"The culprit should be punished severely" — sounds noble, but it is an opinion, not a logical consequence.

Rule 6: Rephrased statement = valid conclusion

If a conclusion simply restates the statement (or a direct part of it) in different words, it follows.

🧠 Active Recall: A conclusion says "All X are Y" but the statement only said "Some X are Y." Does it follow? Which rule applies?

7. Chunk 4 — The Standard Answer Formats

Most questions give two conclusions (I and II) and these options:

When does "Either I or II" apply?

Only when all three conditions are met:

1. Both conclusions are individually possible but not definite (or one is positive, one negative about the same subject).
2. They are about the same subject/predicate.
3. Together they cover all possibilities (a complementary pair — e.g., "X will win" / "X will not win").

Example:
> Statement: "The match will be played tomorrow if the weather is clear."
> - I: The match will be played tomorrow.
> - II: The match will not be played tomorrow.
>
> Neither is definite (weather is unknown), they are contradictory and cover all cases → Either I or II follows.

🧠 Active Recall: What three conditions must be satisfied before you mark "Either I or II follows"?

8. Chunk 5 — Worked Examples

Example 1
> Statement: "The company has decided to increase the salaries of all its employees by 15% from next month."
> - I: The employees of the company will get more money from next month. ✅ (direct restatement)
> - II: The company is the best payer in the industry. ❌ (comparison with industry is nowhere in the statement)
>
> Answer: Only I follows.

Example 2
> Statement: "Regular exercise reduces the risk of heart disease."
> - I: People who never exercise will definitely get heart disease. ❌ (extreme + negative twist; "reduces risk" ≠ "certainly causes")
> - II: Exercise is beneficial for heart health. ✅ (direct, mild restatement)
>
> Answer: Only II follows.

Example 3
> Statement: "The government has increased the tax on tobacco products."
> - I: The government wants to discourage tobacco consumption. ✅ (a reasonable, direct purpose behind a tax hike — such purpose-based conclusions are accepted when they are the natural, direct implication)
> - II: Tobacco consumption in the country will stop completely. ❌ (extreme word "completely")
>
> Answer: Only I follows.

Notice the pattern: the correct conclusion is usually the calm, mild, directly-connected one. The wrong one is usually extreme, emotional, comparative, or off-topic.

9. Mnemonic Trick — "JUDGE"

Before marking any conclusion, run it through the JUDGE filter:

• J — *Just the statement*: Is it based only on the given statement?
• U — *Unavoidable*: Is it definitely true, not just probably?
• D — *Don't add*: No outside knowledge, no assumptions?
• G — *Guard against extremes*: No "all/never/always/completely" unless stated?
• E — *Emotion-free*: No advice, opinion, or moral judgement?

If a conclusion passes all five — it follows. Fail even one — it does not.

10. Summary Table

📌 Review this chapter after 2 days. Solve 10 questions then and check whether the JUDGE filter comes to your mind automatically.

⚠️ Caution: Examiner's Trap

Trap 1 — The "Almost Correct" Conclusion:
The examiner writes a conclusion that is 90% supported by the statement but adds one small extra idea. Example: Statement says "Sales rose after the advertisement." Conclusion says "The advertisement was the sole reason for the rise in sales." The word *sole* makes it wrong. Read every conclusion word by word — the trap is always in one small word.

Trap 2 — Difficult or Emotional Language to Confuse You:
Statements are sometimes dressed in heavy vocabulary or emotional themes (poverty, corruption, patriotism) so that you react emotionally instead of logically. Remember: the fancier the language, the calmer you must become. Strip the sentence down to its bare facts, then apply the JUDGE filter.

Trap 3 — The Double-Relation Question (Fake "Either-Or"):
Two conclusions look like opposites, so students rush to mark "Either I or II follows." But check carefully — if one of them definitely follows or definitely contradicts the statement, the either-or rule collapses. "Either–or" works only when both conclusions are indefinite and together cover all possibilities. Marking (c) blindly is one of the most common ways students lose marks in this chapter.