Contrapositive of Conditional – UGC NET Question

The contrapositive of a conditional “If P then Q” is “If not Q then not P.” It is logically equivalent to the original statement. Here, P is “it is a bird” and Q is “it can fly.” Negating Q gives “it cannot fly,” and negating P gives “it is not a bird.” Therefore, the contrapositive is “If it cannot fly, then it is not a bird,” which preserves the truth conditions of the original conditional.

Option A:
Option A follows the correct procedure of reversing and negating both the antecedent and consequent. It captures the idea that anything that fails the flight condition cannot belong to the bird category under this rule.

Option B:
Option B is the converse, “If Q then P,” which is not guaranteed to be equivalent; many non birds can fly.

Option C:
Option C is the inverse, “If not P then not Q,” which is also not equivalent and can be false even if the original is true.

Option D:
Option D contradicts the original conditional by stating that non birds can fly as a rule, which is unrelated to the given statement.