Passage

Direction for the following 3 (three) items : Consider the given information and answer the three items that follow. When three friends A, B and C met, it was found that each of them wore an outer garment of a different colour. In random order, the garments are: jacket, sweater and tie; and the colours are: blue, white and black. Their surnames in random order are: Ribeiro, Kumar and Singh. Further, we know that : 1. neither B nor Ribeiro wore a white sweater 2. C wore a tie 3. Singh's garment was not white 4. Kumar does not wear a jacket 5. Ribeiro does not like to wear the black colour 6. Each of the friends wore only one outer garment of only one colour

What is C's surname ?

(a) Ribeiro ✓ UPSC's answer
(b) Kumar
(c) Singh
(d) Cannot be determined

Why the answer is (a)

• C wore the tie (clue 2). Clue 1 tells us a white sweater was worn, by someone who is neither B nor Ribeiro; C wore a tie, so A wore the white sweater and B the jacket.

• A is not Ribeiro (clue 1) and not Singh, whose garment was not white (clue 3), so A is Kumar — consistent with Kumar not wearing a jacket (clue 4).

• Clue 1 names B and Ribeiro as two different people, so B is not Ribeiro; B is therefore Singh and C is Ribeiro.

• Ribeiro does not wear black (clue 5), and white is taken, so C's tie is blue and B's jacket is black.

• Result: A – Kumar, white sweater; B – Singh, black jacket; C – Ribeiro, blue tie.

• Hence C's surname is Ribeiro, option (a).

Why the other options are wrong

(b) Kumar: Kumar is A, who wore the white sweater.
(c) Singh: Singh is B, who wore the black jacket.
(d) Cannot be determined: C's surname can be fixed as Ribeiro.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.