UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Statements A, B, C and D correctly describe the standard structure of a categorical syllogism: it has two premises and one conclusion, with the major term as predicate, the minor term as subject and the middle term linking the premises but not appearing in the conclusion. Statement E is false because a syllogism with two negative premises is invalid; such premises fail to provide a constructive linkage between terms. Thus the combination containing A, B, C and D and excluding E is the only fully correct option.

Option A:
Option A is correct since it includes all structural truths about categorical syllogisms while rejecting E, which misstates a condition for validity. It reflects rules that are often checked using Venn diagrams in NET questions.

Option B:
Option B is incomplete because although A, B and C are true, it omits D, so it does not explain the crucial role of the middle term in linking the premises without appearing in the conclusion. Without D, the structure is only partially described.

Option C:
Option C is incorrect because it includes E, the false claim that two negative premises yield validity, and excludes B, so it both admits an invalid rule and omits a correct one. This makes the combination logically unsound.

Option D:
Option D is wrong because it leaves out A and therefore fails to note that the standard syllogism has exactly two premises and one conclusion. While B, C and D are true, omitting A gives an incomplete account of the syllogistic form.

Statements A, B and C correctly identify the roles of major, minor and middle terms, and E is true about their use in solving exam questions. D is false because the major premise is defined as the premise containing the major term, not the minor term. Therefore, the correct collection of true statements is A, B, C and E only.

Option A:
Option A is incomplete since it omits E, not acknowledging the practical importance of term identification for applying rules like distribution and mood-figure checks. Without E, the answer does not reflect the exam-related aspect.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect because it includes D, which incorrectly defines the major premise by reference to the minor term. This misidentification would mislead students about syllogism structure.

Option C:
Option C is wrong as it leaves out A, omitting the statement that the major term is the predicate of the conclusion, which is central to understanding syllogistic form. Thus B, C and E only cannot be right.

Option D:
Option D is correct, gathering all true statements about the three terms and their exam relevance while excluding the false definition in D of the stem. It matches the standard explanation of terminology in categorical syllogism.

A categorical syllogism consists of exactly three categorical propositions: two premises and a conclusion. It involves three distinct terms arranged so that each term appears in two of the propositions. This structured pattern allows clear rules for assessing validity. Therefore the argument form described is called a categorical syllogism.

Option A:
Option A, enthymeme, is an argument in which one premise or the conclusion is left implicit and so does not fully display all its categorical components. While it may be based on syllogistic reasoning, it is not the complete formal pattern mentioned in the stem.

Option B:
Option B, disjunctive argument, uses a premise containing a disjunction, often combined with another premise to infer something about the disjuncts. It is not characterised by having all statements as categorical propositions. Thus disjunctive argument is not correct.

Option C:
Option C is correct because categorical syllogism precisely names the three-proposition deductive structure made up solely of categorical statements. It forms the backbone of traditional Aristotelian logic.

Option D:
Option D, analogical argument, reasons from similarities between cases and does not require two categorical premises and a categorical conclusion. Therefore analogical argument does not match the form specified.

The middle term is the one that occurs in each of the two premises but does not appear in the conclusion. Its function is to link the major and minor terms, thereby allowing a relation to be inferred between them. Proper distribution of the middle term is essential for the validity of the syllogism. Hence the term described in the stem is the middle term.

Option A:
Option A, major, is the predicate of the conclusion and appears in the major premise and the conclusion. It is not confined to the premises alone and therefore does not match the description.

Option B:
Option B, minor, is the subject of the conclusion and appears in the minor premise and the conclusion. Like the major term, it is not the connecting term exclusively in the premises.

Option C:
Option C, predicate, is a grammatical role and in logic corresponds to the term that is asserted of the subject in a proposition. While the major term is often a predicate, predicate is not the specific label for the term appearing only in the premises.

Option D:
Option D is correct because the middle term uniquely occupies the central position, joining the premises without entering the conclusion. Its correct distribution ensures that the premises genuinely support the stated relation between subject and predicate in the conclusion.

Statements A, B, C and E correctly explain the roles of the three terms in a categorical syllogism and their exam relevance, whereas D is false. The major term is indeed the predicate of the conclusion, the minor term its subject, and the middle term connects the premises but does not appear in the conclusion. A valid syllogism requires the middle term to be distributed at least once, so it cannot remain undistributed in both premises, making D incorrect. Therefore A, B, C and E only is the correct combination.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because it omits C and E, leaving out the description of the middle term and the explicit reference to exam use. A, B only reports only part of the true information and fails to capture the full set of correct statements.

Option B:
Option B improves on option A by including C, but it still omits E, which emphasises how these terms are tested in UGC NET. Since the question explicitly mentions such context, A, B, C only remains incomplete as an answer.

Option C:
Option C is correct because it gathers all the true statements about the three terms and their significance in exam questions while excluding D. This option reflects both the standard textbook account and the way syllogisms are handled in UGC NET Paper 1.

Option D:
Option D is wrong since it excludes A, the identification of the major term, and presents only a subset of true statements. B, C, E only does not include all the correct information and therefore cannot satisfy the requirement to pick all correct statements.