Drawing Deductive Conclusions Questions and Answers Flashcards
7 cards from real Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Drawing Deductive Conclusions Questions and Answers flashcards as text
Premises: All physicians are college graduates. Some college graduates are wealthy. Conclusion: Some physicians are wealthy.
Answer: The conclusion does not follow
The 'some wealthy college graduates' may not overlap with physicians at all, so wealth among physicians cannot be deduced.
Premises: Either the project is on schedule or it is over budget. The project is not over budget. Conclusion: The project is on schedule.
Answer: The conclusion follows
This is a valid disjunctive syllogism: given A or B, and not B, A must be true.
Premises: All animals that are mammals breathe air. Whales breathe air. Conclusion: Whales are mammals.
Answer: The conclusion does not follow
Breathing air is a property of all mammals but may also apply to non-mammals, so the conclusion commits the fallacy of affirming the consequent.
Premises: No fast-food restaurant in the city serves lobster. The Harbor Grill is in the city and serves lobster. Conclusion: The Harbor Grill is not a fast-food restaurant.
Answer: The conclusion follows
By contraposition: if it served lobster and no fast-food restaurant in the city does, then it cannot be a fast-food restaurant.
Premises: All red cards in the deck are hearts or diamonds. This card is a spade. Conclusion: This card is not red.
Answer: The conclusion follows
Since all red cards are hearts or diamonds, a spade cannot be red — the conclusion follows validly by modus tollens.
Premises: Most successful startups receive venture capital funding. TechLaunch is a successful startup. Conclusion: TechLaunch received venture capital funding.
Answer: The conclusion does not follow
'Most' means more than half but not all, so individual cases cannot be deduced with certainty even when the general trend is strong.
Premises: If a number is divisible by 4, it is divisible by 2. The number 18 is divisible by 2. Conclusion: 18 is divisible by 4.
Answer: The conclusion does not follow
The conditional only goes one direction; divisibility by 2 does not imply divisibility by 4, making this the fallacy of affirming the consequent.