Consequential Reasoning Questions
How do you solve "some, all, none" logic questions in verbal reasoning?
Rewrite every statement using single letters and one of three symbols — "=" for all, "~" for some, "≠" for none — then chain the related subjects into a single line wherever a letter repeats. Any subjects that end up on separate, unconnected lines have no relationship at all, and the weakest symbol linking two subjects always determines their overall relationship.
Why this question rewards a fixed method
These questions describe relationships between invented categories — "some kings are things," "all slings are lings" — and ask which conclusion necessarily follows. They can appear either pre-spaced (one relationship per line) or written as a single dense sentence. Either way, the first move is the same: convert everything to the spaced, single-line form and reduce every category to a letter.
The real difficulty isn't the logic itself, which is mechanical once set out — it's resisting the pull to reason it out mentally. These questions reward a slow, written method far more than quick instinct.
Worked example
Assume that some kings are things, all slings are lings, and some hings are kings. Which of the following is correct?
A. No things are kings B. Some hings are things C. All lings are things D. All hims are kings E. No slings are lings
Rewritten with letters and symbols: K ~ T, S = L, H ~ K.
K appears twice, so chain around it: H ~ K ~ T. The sling/ling relationship shares no letter with this chain, so it sits apart: S = L, disconnected from the rest.
Because H ~ K ~ T is joined entirely by "some" relationships, any two subjects in that chain have at least a some relationship. Option B, some hings are things, is directly supported. Options that reach across the two separate lines (like Option C, connecting lings to things) are automatically wrong — there is no relationship at all between anything on different lines. Option B is correct.
The rule that trips students up
When a chain mixes symbols — say, two "all" links followed by a "some" link — the overall relationship between the subjects at either end takes the weakest symbol in the chain, not the strongest. Five "all" links and a single "some" link between two subjects still only guarantees "some." This is the rule most often applied backwards.
Steps
- Convert every subject to a single letter and every relationship to =, ~ or ≠
- Chain subjects into a single line wherever a letter appears in more than one relationship
- Treat subjects on separate, unconnected lines as having no relationship at all
- When a chain mixes symbols, the overall relationship takes the weakest one present
- Check each option against the finished chain, eliminating any that connect subjects from different lines
This is one chapter of the Scholarship & Entrance English Assessment Guide. The complete guide — every technique, collected in one document — is available as a free PDF from the guide's main page.