Consider the following statement:
“We shall go either for a picnic or for trekking”.
Which of the following, if true, would falsify this claim?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) We do not go either for picnic or for trekking
The claim promises that at least one of the two outings will happen. It is proved false only if neither happens — we go neither for a picnic nor for trekking.
- 'Either a picnic or trekking' is true if at least one of the two happens.
- (a) and (c) each have one of them happening — the claim holds.
- (b) says nothing about what we do.
- Only (d), neither of them happening, makes the claim false.
- ✗ (a) A picnic alone satisfies the 'either … or' claim.
- ✗ (b) Irrelevant: what health authorities encourage says nothing about what we actually do.
- ✗ (c) Trekking alone also satisfies the claim.
- ✓ (d) If neither outing happens, 'either a picnic or trekking' is false.
Remember · 'Either A or B' is falsified only by 'neither A nor B'.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·