Validity and soundness basics – UGC NET Question

Statements A, B, C and E correctly describe validity and soundness, while D is clearly false. Validity concerns the relationship between premises and conclusion such that true premises cannot yield a false conclusion, and soundness adds the factual truth of premises. A valid argument may still have false premises, so C is also correct. Sound arguments must have true conclusions, not false ones, hence D is rejected, and all the true statements together are captured by option B.

Option A:
Option A is incorrect because it omits E, ignoring the explicit relevance of distinguishing validity and truth in UGC NET reasoning questions. Although A, B and C are true, leaving out E means the set is incomplete. This combination does not fully answer the question as stated.

Option B:
Option B is correct since it includes exactly the true statements A, B, C and E and excludes D, which wrongly claims that sound arguments must end in false conclusions. This option therefore matches standard textbook definitions and exam practice. It recognises that soundness guarantees a true conclusion, the opposite of what D asserts.

Option C:
Option C is wrong because it leaves out A, the central definition of validity, and thus fails to include all the correct statements. Even though B, C and E are true, missing A makes the combination partially accurate only. Hence it cannot be the right answer.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because it omits B, the definition of soundness, which is essential in this context, and still includes only part of the true set. A, C, E only therefore fails to capture the complete group of correct statements required by the question.