Using modus ponens or modus tollens can anyone fill in the second second line for this:?

Question

Using modus ponens or modus tollens can anyone fill in the second second line for this:

a.If this is a while loop, then the body of the loop may never be executed.

Or sorry the last part was

:. The body of the loop may never be executed.

Answer 1

"Modus ponens" is a straightforward syllogism, with the form:
If (A statement) then (B statement).
(B statement) is true, therefore
A statement is true.

"Modus tollens" is a syllogism where the second statement in the conditional (if-then) statement is false:
If (A statement) then (B statement).
(B statement) is false, therefore
A statement is false.

Your problem has only one statement (the conditional), so you cannot draw any conclusion. You can take two cases:

1) "This is a while loop", therfore "The body may never be executed" (MP)

2) "The body will be executed", therefore "This is not a while loop" (MT)

Answer 2

Modus ponens states that if we have the following truth:
If P, then Q
and we know that P is true, we must conclude that Q is also true.

So, the corollary to your statement goes like this:

a.
"If this is a while loop, then the body of the loop may never be executed."
b.
"This IS a while loop, therefore it is possible that the body of the loop may never be executed."