UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

In propositional logic, the statement “if p, then q” is called a conditional or implication. It asserts that whenever p is true, q must also be true. This relation captures a directed dependence between antecedent and consequent. Therefore the connective in the stem is known as implication.

Option A:
Option A, biconditional, has the form “p if and only if q” and expresses a two-way equivalence. It is stronger than a simple conditional. Thus biconditional does not match the one-way “if p, then q” structure described here.

Option B:
Option B, disjunction, uses “or” to connect two statements and has different truth conditions. It does not encode a directional dependency from p to q. Hence disjunction cannot be the correct answer.

Option C:
Option C properly names implication as the connective that forms a conditional statement from an antecedent and a consequent. Its symbolisation as p → q corresponds exactly to “if p, then q”. Therefore implication is the best choice.

Option D:
Option D, conjunction, joins statements with “and” and requires both to be true. It lacks the conditional structure of premise leading to consequent. So conjunction is not the connective the question refers to.

In a conditional of the form “if p, then q”, the part that follows “if” is called the antecedent. It represents the condition under which the consequent is asserted to hold. Understanding which part is the antecedent is crucial for analysing implication, contrapositive and related logical forms. Thus the component p in the stem is correctly termed the antecedent.

Option A:
Option A is correct because antecedent literally means “that which goes before” and in conditional statements it precedes the “then” clause. It is the assumed or hypothetical part whose truth is taken as the basis for asserting the consequent.

Option B:
Option B, consequent, is the part that follows “then” and expresses what is said to follow from the antecedent. It corresponds to q, not to p, so it cannot be the answer here.

Option C:
Option C, premise, is a general term for any statement offered as a reason in an argument, and both antecedent and consequent can appear as premises in broader reasoning. However, premise does not specifically identify the first part of a conditional.

Option D:
Option D, conclusion, is the statement that the argument as a whole is trying to establish. A single conditional may express a premise or a conclusion, but p itself is not called the conclusion by definition.