High School Placement Test Prep

Answer: B - Plato may be mortal. The first sentence is a major premise and establishes a general principle taken as true-that some human beings are mortal. The second sentence is a minor premise and establishes that a specific person is a human being. In reaching a conclusion, however, the test-taker must recognize that the major premise is not an absolute. Answer B properly connects the major and minor premises by concluding that Plato (a human being) comes within the principle established in the major premise and that conclusion is limited by the same limitation of the major premise.