Elvesland is a country that has peculiar beliefs and practices. They express almost all their emotions by gifting flowers. For instance, if anyone gifts a white flower to someone, then it is always taken to be a declaration of one's love for that person. In a similar manner, the gifting of a yellow flower to someone often means that one is angry with that person. Based only on the information provided above, which one of the following set(s) of statement(s) can be logically inferred with certainty? i. In Elvesland, one always declares one's love by gifting a white flower. ii. In Elvesland, all emotions are declared by gifting flowers. iii. In Elvesland, sometimes one expresses one's anger by gifting a flower that is not yellow. iv. In Elvesland, sometimes one declares one's love by gifting a white flower. A. only (i) B. (i), (ii) and (iii) C. (iii), (iii) and (iv) D. only (iv)

GATE 2023 · General Aptitude · Logical Reasoning · medium

Answer: Only statement (iv) can be logically inferred with certainty. Answer: D. only (iv)

  1. Analyze statement (i): Fact 1: white flower -> love. Statement (i) claims: love -> white flower. This is the converse of Fact 1 and is not logically guaranteed. So (i) CANNOT be inferred with certainty.
  2. Analyze statement (ii): The passage says emotions are expressed 'almost all' the time through flowers, not ALL. Statement (ii) claims ALL emotions are declared by gifting flowers. This is too strong and cannot be inferred with certainty.
  3. Analyze statement (iii): Fact 2 says yellow flower OFTEN means anger. This does not tell us whether anger is expressed by non-yellow flowers. Statement (iii) says 'sometimes one expresses anger by gifting a flower that is not yellow'. This cannot be inferred with certainty from 'often'.
  4. Analyze statement (iv): Fact 1 says gifting white is ALWAYS taken as declaration of love. Therefore, gifting white sometimes results in a declaration of love. Statement (iv) says 'sometimes one declares love by gifting a white flower'. Since 'always' logically implies 'sometimes', statement (iv) is certainly true.