Denying the antecedent is a logical fallacy that occurs in conditional statements. It follows the form: If P then Q. If P is false, then Q must also be false. This reasoning is flawed because the truth of Q does not depend solely on P. For example, consider the statement: If it rains, then the ground is wet. Denying the antecedent would suggest that if it does not rain, the ground cannot be wet. However, the ground could be wet for other reasons, such as a sprinkler. Thus, denying the antecedent leads to incorrect conclusions.