GATE CS 2015 Set 3 Q.6 (GA Q.6): Verbal Ability and Grammar

Alexander turned his attention towards India, since he had conquered Persia.

Which one of the statements below is logically valid and can be inferred from the above sentence?

Alexander would not have turned his attention towards India had he not conquered Persia.

Alexander was not ready to rest on his laurels, and wanted to march to India.

Alexander was completely in control of his army and could command it to move towards India.

Since Alexander's kingdom extended to Indian borders after the conquest of Persia, he was keen to move further.

Official answer and solution

Solution

Analyze the logical dependency established by the causal conjunction 'since' in the prompt statement.

Prompt sentence: "Alexander turned his attention towards India, since he had conquered Persia."

Logical analysis:

The word 'since' indicates that conquering Persia was the precondition and direct cause for Alexander turning his attention towards India.
This implies that without having conquered Persia first, the event of turning his attention towards India would not have taken place.

Evaluating choices:

(A) states the direct contrapositive: "Alexander would not have turned his attention towards India had he not conquered Persia." This logically follows from the premise.
(B), (C), and (D) introduce external conjectures regarding Alexander's psychological state, army control, or geographic boundaries that are neither stated nor necessitated by the sentence.

Final answer

Common trap

Assuming external historical facts about Alexander's empire boundaries (Option D) rather than evaluating only what is logically implied by the text.

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