Conditional "only when": Premise: "He works at the farm only when his father asks him politely." Which pair of statements can both be true and is logically required by the premise?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: (i) He worked at the farm. (ii) His father asked him politely.

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
"Only when" expresses a necessary condition. "He works at the farm only when his father asks him politely" means: If he worked at the farm, then his father must have asked politely.



Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Premise: Work-at-farm ⇒ Father-asked-politely.
  • Statements: (i) He worked at the farm. (ii) Father asked politely. (iii) He worked at home. (iv) Father did not ask politely.


Concept / Approach:
For A only when B, we formalize as A ⇒ B. The contrapositive is ¬B ⇒ ¬A. The premise does not guarantee the converse B ⇒ A.



Step-by-Step Solution:

If (i) is true (he worked at the farm), (ii) must also be true by the premise.Options pairing (i) without (ii) would contradict the rule.Working at home (iii) is irrelevant to the conditional about the farm.


Verification / Alternative check:
The pair (i) & (ii) exactly matches A ⇒ B becoming true with A observed; hence it is required.



Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • (ii) with (i) reordered is equivalent, but the key selects one canonical ordering.
  • (iii) with (iv) or (ii) says nothing about the farm condition and doesn’t satisfy the necessity relation explicitly.
  • None of these is wrong because a correct pair exists.


Common Pitfalls:
Interpreting "only when" as "if and only if"; the premise does not assert the converse.



Final Answer:
(i) and (ii)

More Questions from Logical Deduction

Discussion & Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
Join Discussion