Six combinations remain out of the sixteen. If one premise is a universal affirmative, the other may take any of the four forms. If it is a universal negative, it may be paired with either affirmative form, though its pairing with the universal affirmative has already been considered; the particular affirmative must be the minor premise. If it is a particular affirmative, it may be paired with either universal form, both of which have already been considered. If it is a particular negative, it may be paired only with a universal affirmative, which has likewise already been considered. Thus, six productive combinations remain, while ten are discarded. Taking both considerations into account, they become eight.

Of these ten combinations, eight depend on universal affirmation. Every combination must involve one of two things: either affirmation and universality, or negation and particularity. Combining two contradictories yields no useful result. Rather, when two contradictories of different kinds are combined—as with a universal negative and a particular affirmative—they yield a result provided that the major premise is the universal one. It is therefore clear that every syllogism requires affirmation and universality, either together in one premise or distributed between the two premises.

It should also be understood that, in most likenesses and syllogisms, only one of the two propositions is obscure; the other is evident and known. The person presenting the likeness or constructing the syllogism therefore needs only to explain the obscure proposition. The intended conclusion thereby becomes known, owing to the negative proposition closely associated with it in the reasoning. The evident proposition is the major premise, which is the more general one.