About Statement and Assumption
A statement and assumption question gives a decision, a plan or a piece of advice, and asks which of four statements is assumed in it. The answer is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, and it is never stated. As with the other judgment topics, one answer is recorded for each question and the explanation gives the reason for it.
What you need to understand
- An assumption is what has to be true for the statement to work, which the person making it has not said. It is not a gap in their knowledge and not something they have overlooked.
- The test that settles almost every question is negation. Take each option, suppose it to be false, and ask whether the statement still makes sense. The assumption is the one whose falsity brings the statement down.
- Three kinds of wrong option recur. One is true of the subject but irrelevant to whether the plan can work. One claims much more than the plan needs, usually with a word such as every, none or always. One is the statement itself in other words, which assumes nothing at all.
- The reason for a plan is not the same as an assumption. A shop staying open late in the festival week hopes for late customers; what it assumes is that there are enough of them to cover the cost.
- An assumption is often about feasibility: that the thing can be done at all, that the staff can be found, that the power to do it exists, that the land can be had, that the customers can reach it.
- An assumption may also be about response: that people will behave as the plan expects, that the rule can be enforced, that what was said in a survey reflects what people will do.
- Where the statement is a comparison with somewhere else, the assumption is usually that the two cases are alike in the respects that matter.
- Where the statement is a prediction, the assumption is that the conditions it rests on continue to hold.
- An option that is already stated in the statement is not an assumption, however central it is.
- An option about the past is rarely the assumption. History does not make a plan workable.
- A stronger claim is not a better answer. If the plan needs only that most customers can reach it, an option saying that every customer can is not what the plan assumes.
- Not every unstated fact is an assumption: only those the statement depends on. The distinction is made by negation, not by imagination.
- The word implicit means that the reader has to supply it in order for the statement to hold together.
How to work through these questions
- Take each option and negate it, asking whether the statement would still be worth making. The one that destroys the statement is the assumption.
- Reject the restatements first. They are easy to spot once the habit is formed, because they add nothing to what is already there.
- Reject the options that claim more than the statement needs, especially those containing every, none or always.
- Reject the options that are about the subject but not about the plan: the age of a building, the size of a village, the number of departments.
- Prefer the option about whether the plan can work at all, since that is what most assumptions turn on.
- Ask what would have to be true for you to make this statement yourself, and see which option that is.
Mistakes that cost marks
- Choosing something true of the subject but irrelevant to whether the plan can work.
- Choosing the strongest claim in the list, when the statement needs something weaker.
- Choosing the statement restated, which assumes nothing.
- Choosing the reason for the plan instead of the assumption behind it.
- Missing the assumption about feasibility, which is the commonest kind and often the least interesting option on the page.
- Being led by what you know about the subject rather than by what the statement needs.
- Choosing an option about the past or about somebody's preference.
- Forgetting that the assumption must be necessary, not merely helpful or likely.
Worked example
Statement: The city will ban private cars from the old town on Sundays. Which of these is implicit in the statement?
- Ask what would have to be true for this announcement to be worth making. A ban is only a ban if it can be applied, so the city must be able to keep cars out of the streets on the day.
- Negate the first option: if the old town were not described in any guidebook, the ban would still work. It is not what the statement rests on.
- Negate the second: if some residents of the old town owned cars, the ban could still be made and enforced, with arrangements for them. This claims far more than the statement needs.
- Negate the third: private cars will not be allowed in the old town on Sundays is what the statement already says, so nothing is assumed by it.
- What remains is that the rule can be enforced and the old town kept clear of cars, which is the condition the statement depends on. That is the answer.
Answer: The rule can be enforced and the old town kept clear of cars on the day
Practice questions with answers
A few Statement and Assumption questions with the full solution shown, so you can see
how the method is applied before you attempt the timed set.
Question 1
Statement: A hospital will hold its outpatient clinic in the evening on two days a week.
Which of these is an assumption that the statement rests on?
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A
Every patient would prefer an evening appointment.
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B
The outpatient clinic will be held in the evening twice a week.
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C
The hospital runs two outpatient clinics at present.
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D
Staff can be found to run the clinic at those times.
Answer: Option D — with explanation
The clinic cannot be held without staff. The assumption is that they can be found for the evening; what patients prefer is a reason for the change rather than a condition of it.
The assumption is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, so test each option by asking whether the statement could still be made if that option were false. An option that is true of the subject but irrelevant to the plan, and an option that claims more than the plan needs, are both not the assumption.
Common mistakes
- "Every patient would prefer an..." - the clinic needs staff to run it, not every patient to prefer it: Every patient would prefer an evening appointment.
- "The outpatient clinic will be..." - this is the announcement restated
- "The hospital runs two outpatient..." - the number of clinics does not bear on whether an evening one can be staffed: The hospital runs two outpatient clinics at present.
Question 2
Statement: The city will raise the fee for parking on the street on weekdays.
Which of these assumptions is implicit in the statement?
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A
Nobody will stop driving into the city because of the fee.
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B
Drivers will go on parking, so the income does not fall.
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C
The city has about four thousand parking spaces on its streets.
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D
Parking on the street will cost more on weekdays.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
A higher fee raises money only if it is still paid. The assumption is that enough drivers keep parking; the number of spaces is background, and the claim that nobody will stay away is stronger than the decision needs.
The assumption is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, so test each option by asking whether the statement could still be made if that option were false. An option that is true of the subject but irrelevant to the plan, and an option that claims more than the plan needs, are both not the assumption.
Common mistakes
- "Parking on the street will..." - this is the announcement in other words: Parking on the street will cost more on weekdays.
- "The city has about four..." - how many spaces there are does not show that the higher fee will be paid
- "Nobody will stop driving into..." - some drivers may well stay away, and the assumption is only that enough remain: Nobody will stop driving into the city because of the fee.
Question 3
Statement: The council will plant two thousand trees along the ring road this year.
Which of these has been taken for granted in the statement?
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A
Two thousand trees will be planted along the ring road.
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B
The ring road was opened to traffic twenty years ago.
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C
There is room along the ring road for the trees.
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D
Every tree that is planted will survive its first year.
Answer: Option C — with explanation
The number and the place have both been fixed in the announcement, so the assumption is that the place can take the number. The survival of the trees and the age of the road are separate questions.
The assumption is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, so test each option by asking whether the statement could still be made if that option were false. An option that is true of the subject but irrelevant to the plan, and an option that claims more than the plan needs, are both not the assumption.
Common mistakes
- "Two thousand trees will be..." - this is the announcement restated: Two thousand trees will be planted along the ring road.
- "Every tree that is planted..." - planting assumes the trees can go in, not that all of them will live: Every tree that is planted will survive its first year.
- "The ring road was opened..." - the age of the road has nothing to do with whether the trees can be planted: The ring road was opened to traffic twenty years ago.
Question 4
Statement: The city will raise the fee for parking on the street on weekdays.
Which of these is an assumption that the statement rests on?
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A
The city has about four thousand parking spaces on its streets.
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B
Drivers will go on parking, so the income does not fall.
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C
Parking on the street will cost more on weekdays.
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D
Nobody will stop driving into the city because of the fee.
Answer: Option B — with explanation
A higher fee raises money only if it is still paid. The assumption is that enough drivers keep parking; the number of spaces is background, and the claim that nobody will stay away is stronger than the decision needs.
The assumption is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, so test each option by asking whether the statement could still be made if that option were false. An option that is true of the subject but irrelevant to the plan, and an option that claims more than the plan needs, are both not the assumption.
Common mistakes
- "Parking on the street will..." - this is the announcement in other words: Parking on the street will cost more on weekdays.
- "The city has about four..." - how many spaces there are does not show that the higher fee will be paid
- "Nobody will stop driving into..." - some drivers may well stay away, and the assumption is only that enough remain: Nobody will stop driving into the city because of the fee.
Question 5
Statement: The council will close the road outside a primary school for half an hour at the start and the end of the school day.
Which of these assumptions is implicit in the statement?
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A
The council has the power to close the road.
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B
No driver will ignore the barrier and drive through anyway.
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C
The school has about four hundred pupils on its roll.
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D
The road will be closed twice on each school day.
Answer: Option A — with explanation
A closed road assumes the authority to close it and the means to keep it closed. The number of pupils and the complete obedience of drivers are not what the decision rests on.
The assumption is the condition without which the statement would not make sense, so test each option by asking whether the statement could still be made if that option were false. An option that is true of the subject but irrelevant to the plan, and an option that claims more than the plan needs, are both not the assumption.
Common mistakes
- "No driver will ignore the..." - closing the road assumes it can be enforced, not that every driver obeys: No driver will ignore the barrier and drive through anyway.
- "The school has about four..." - the size of the school does not show that the road can be closed: The school has about four hundred pupils on its roll.
- "The road will be closed..." - this is the announcement restated: The road will be closed twice on each school day.
Frequently asked questions
How is an assumption different from a conclusion?
A conclusion is drawn out of the statement and is stated; an assumption is put into the statement and is not. This topic asks what the statement needs, while the statement and conclusion topic asks what follows from it.
Is the negation test always reliable?
It is the right test to apply to every option. Where two options survive it, the distinction is usually that one of them claims more than the statement needs, which is the point at which the word every in an option becomes a warning.
Why are options about the past usually wrong?
Because a plan works or fails in the future. That a firm has bought from one supplier for ten years, or that a market has been held in the morning for a century, does not make a new arrangement possible or impossible.
Can an assumption be something the speaker would deny?
Yes, and that is common in examinations. The assumption is what the statement needs, not what its author happens to believe, and the two come apart more often than people expect.
Where does this topic appear in a paper?
In the reasoning sections of bank, SSC, civil services and management entrance papers. It is often paired with conclusion and argument questions in the same section.
