Managers and employees — Syllogisms Aptitude Question
Managers and employees: Statements: All managers are employees. Some employees are shareholders. Conclusions: I. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Syllogisms
- Section: Logical Reasoning
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 90 seconds
Question
Statements:
- All managers are employees.
- Some employees are shareholders.
Conclusions: I. Some managers are shareholders. II. Some shareholders are employees.
Which conclusion follows?
Options
- Only I
- Only II
- Both
- Neither
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: B. Only II
Worked solution
- The shareholder employees need not be managers, so I does not follow.
- 'Some employees are shareholders' is equivalent to 'some shareholders are employees': II follows.
Answer: Only II.
The idea
A 'some' statement is symmetric and may be reversed freely. That makes its converse a valid conclusion every time.
Shortcut. II is statement 2 converted, valid at sight; I would need 'employees' covered in full by a premise, but it is only the predicate of an 'all' and the subject of a 'some'.
Common trap. "Both" — assuming the shareholder employees include some managers; they can all be employees who are not managers.