Syllogism: Either-or and Neither-nor

Derived from the Greek word “Syllogisms,” the word “Syllogism” means inference or intercession. Syllogism questions include logical reasoning or statements and you have to utilise, decide and reach a certain conclusion. Aristotle is a great personality who made major contributions in this field of syllogisms.

Basically, there are three main types of syllogism

• Major premise
• Minor premise
• Conclusion

How to solve syllogism questions in general?

Like we said earlier, these are a set of illogical arguments or conclusions which are merely based on assumptions. So we have to decide logically and come to the right conclusion.

In order to solve syllogism problems, the best way to get the answer is by using Venn diagrams. Venn diagrams help us understand easier and capture the question properly. 

Also, there are some essential points to be noted, i.e., this should be done in order.

First, underline the variables that are I could be an elephant or colour green or number etc.

Then draw a Venn diagram for each of the variables interconnecting them according to the statement.

Find the option that best suits the conclusion.

What is “Neither-nor” or “Either -or”?

Phrases like these are included in the category of complementary pairs. Now you must be wondering what that is! A complimentary pair is a type of syllogism where both conclusions are not true and both conclusions are not false at the same time. So, one has to be wrong for the other to be correct.

There are mainly three different types of complementary pairs;

• Some+ no
• Some some not
• All + some not

HOW TO DRAW A VENN DIAGRAM? 

Let’s see the above figure. How did we draw that one 

1. Read the statements given in the questions carefully and understand. 
2. Note all the variables, i. e., blue, green, pink, purple and black 
3. Each variable is represented as a circle. 
4. Some pink is blue, so draw a circle for pink such that it shares a part with blue. 
5. Next says, some blues are green which indicates that blues have shared parts with green. 
6. All greens are purple, so green is completely purple. So there will be a part of blue in that purple circle. 
7. No purple is black; that is, black is completely detached from the purple and the rest of the variables. 
8. So if we draw this circle form, this represents a Venn diagram. 

2) Two assertions are given in the question, followed by two conclusions, I and II. You must analyse the assertions as true, even if they appear to contradict generally held beliefs. You must decide which, if any, of the provided inferences derives from the supplied assertions.

Statements:

1. No cities are countries.
2. No countries are villages.

Conclusions:

1. Some countries are cities.
2. No villages are cities.

Choose the conclusion(s) that follows the above statements.

Answer: C. Either Conclusion 1 or 2 follows

Explanation: The first statement explains that no cities are countries and the second one says that no countries are villages. The given conclusion statements clearly say that some countries are cities and that no villages are cities. So, neither conclusion 1 nor conclusion 2 follows, and with the help of a Venn diagram, we can easily identify that the correct answer is C. This is a case or neither or kind of situation.

CONCLUSION

We can conclude by saying that from this article, now we know how to attempt syllogism reasoning questions for a competitive exam because if you know the trick, it is easy to score points in these sections. So, in this, we have discussed how to solve a question using simple tricks and strategies. To make it easier, if you have read and understood this article, it will be easy for you to solve such problems.