UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

The wrong statement is D only. A, B, C, E and F are correct. D is false because a true conclusion can be reached via an invalid (fallacious) argument. F is correct because validity is a matter of logical form (truth-preservation across possible cases), not the actual truth or falsity of the premises in the real world.

Option A:
Option A is correct because it identifies D alone as wrong and correctly treats F as a true description of validity being form-based. This matches standard textbook definitions used in UGC NET reasoning.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect because it marks F as wrong, but F correctly states that validity depends on form, not on the actual truth/falsity of premises. So “F only” cannot be right.

Option C:
Option C is incorrect because it wrongly includes C as a wrong statement, even though C is the standard definition of soundness (valid + true premises). It also includes F, which is correct.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because it includes F among the wrong statements. Since F is correct, the set “D and F only” is not the right answer.

Mood is determined by listing the categorical types of the major premise, minor premise and conclusion in order, using the letters A, E, I and O. For example, a syllogism with all three statements universal affirmative is said to have mood AAA. Mood, together with figure, fully specifies the syllogism's form. Hence the pattern of types described in the stem is called the mood of the syllogism.

Option A:
Option A is correct because mood captures exactly which kinds of categorical propositions are used and in what order. This information is crucial for checking validity against standard lists of valid moods in each figure.

Option B:
Option B, figure, as noted, is determined by the arrangement of the middle term in the premises, not by the types of propositions. While both mood and figure describe form, they refer to different aspects.

Option C:
Option C, schema, is sometimes used more broadly for generic argument patterns, but in traditional syllogistic logic, the specific term for the series of A, E, I, O labels is mood, not schema.

Option D:
Option D, order, is too vague and could refer to many sequences; it is not the standard technical label used in syllogistic theory.

D and E are wrong because they reverse the meanings of tautology and contingency. A tautology is true in all possible situations, not always false, and a contingent proposition is true in some situations and false in others, not true in all. Statements A and B correctly describe what counts as a statement in logic, and C accurately expresses the idea that contradictory statements cannot both be true simultaneously. Thus the pair D and E only is the correct set of wrong statements.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because it selects D alone, but E is also wrong; contingent propositions are not true in all possible situations. By ignoring E, Option A fails to identify all the incorrect statements.

Option B:
Option B is also incorrect because it focuses only on E and ignores D, which misdefines tautology as always false. Since both D and E are wrong, singling out only one of them does not satisfy the requirement of the question.

Option C:
Option C is correct because it groups together D and E, the two statements that misrepresent the key logical categories of tautology and contingency. It leaves A, B and C untouched, acknowledging that they are true characterisations of statements and contradictions.

Option D:
Option D is wrong because it includes C, which is actually true: contradictory statements cannot both be true at the same time. By treating C as if it were wrong along with D, this option misidentifies the logical property of contradiction.

The argument’s form is: All A are B; All B are C; Therefore, All A are C. This is a standard valid syllogistic pattern; if the premises were true, the conclusion would necessarily follow. However, in reality the premises “All squares are circles” and “All circles are triangles” are false. Because at least one premise is false, the argument is not sound, even though its logical form is valid. Therefore, it is valid but unsound.

Option A:
Option A would require both validity and the truth of premises, which is not satisfied here because the premises distort geometric facts.

Option B:
Option B separates form and content, recognising that the inference pattern is correct while the factual premises render the argument unsound.

Option C:
Option C is impossible, because soundness presupposes validity; an invalid argument cannot be sound.

Option D:
Option D wrongly denies the validity of the form simply because the premises are false, confusing logical structure with factual accuracy.

Logical form captures the structural pattern that arguments of many different topics can share. When content words are replaced by variables, what is left is the form that determines whether an argument is valid or invalid. This form is what logic studies in order to separate good reasoning from bad. Therefore the abstract pattern described in the stem is correctly called the logical form.

Option A:
Option A, content, refers to the specific subject matter or factual details discussed in the statements, not to the pattern they instantiate. Content can vary widely while the underlying reasoning pattern remains the same. Hence content is what we bracket off, not what we focus on, when we talk about form.

Option B:
Option B is correct because logical form is precisely the structure that different arguments can have in common despite discussing different topics. It is this form that allows us to say two arguments are of the same type and to classify them as valid or invalid purely on structural grounds.

Option C:
Option C, surface grammar, focuses on the linguistic arrangement of words such as word order and inflection, which may differ between languages without changing the underlying logical pattern. Thus surface grammar need not coincide with the logical structure relevant to validity.

Option D:
Option D, rhetoric, is concerned with persuasive style and techniques aimed at influencing an audience. Rhetorical devices may affect how arguments are received but do not by themselves determine the underlying pattern of inference.

Validity concerns only the logical structure of an argument. A valid argument is one where, assuming the premises are true, the conclusion cannot logically be false. However, validity alone does not guarantee that the premises are actually true in reality. When a valid form is combined with true premises, the conclusion is guaranteed to be true, and this is the key relationship captured in the correct statement.

Option A:
Option A correctly links validity with truth in the conditional way used in logic: validity plus true premises forces the conclusion to be true. It neither assumes nor denies that the premises are in fact true; it specifies what would follow if they are.

Option B:
Option B incorrectly claims that validity requires true premises, but an argument can be valid even if its premises are false, as long as the conclusion follows logically.

Option C:
Option C wrongly asserts that the conclusion of a valid argument must be true regardless of the premises’ truth, which misunderstands validity as guaranteeing truth instead of preserving it.

Option D:
Option D conflates validity with soundness; soundness additionally requires that all premises are actually true.

Statements A and B correctly describe the standard structure: two premises leading to a conclusion, each with subject and predicate terms. D is also correct because syllogistic validity concerns whether the conclusion follows logically from the premises, regardless of whether those premises are actually true. C is false since the middle term appears in the premises, not the conclusion, and E is false because a valid argument can have a true conclusion even when its premises are false. Therefore A, B and D only are correct.

Option A:
Option A is correct since it includes exactly the structural and logical-form facts without importing the false claims about the middle term and truth of premises forcing truth of conclusion.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect because it includes C, which mislocates the middle term in the conclusion instead of in the premises, so it puts a wrong statement into the combination.

Option C:
Option C is wrong as it adds E, which wrongly insists that false premises force a false conclusion, and it also fails to include B, so it contains errors/omissions.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because although B and D are true, E is false, and dropping A loses the accurate description that a categorical syllogism has two premises and one conclusion.