Verbal Ability constitutes an important portion of the VARC section of the CAT. The Verbal Ability (VA) section includes all the other sections apart from RCs in the VARC section. If one is well-versed with the Para Summary and Para Jumbles, one can solve the questions on Verbal Ability. One must definitely try to attempt the Verbal Ability questions in the VARC section. You can check out these Verbal Ability questions from CAT Previous year’s papers. Practice a good number of questions on CAT Verbal Ability questions so that you can answer these questions in the exam. In this article, we will look into some important Verbal Ability Questions for CAT VARC. These are a good source for practice; If you want to practice these questions, you can download this Important CAT Verbal Ability Questions PDF below, which is completely Free.
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Instructions
Arrange the four sentences in their proper order so that they make a logically coherent paragraph.
Question 1: 1. The Saheli Programme, run by the US Cross-Cultural Solutions, is offering a three week tour of India that involves a lot more than frenzied sightseeing.
2. Participants interested in women’s issues will learn about arranged marriages, dowry and infanticide.
3. Holiday packages include all sorts of topics, but female infanticide must be the first for tourism.
4. Interspersed with these talks and meetings are visits to cities like New Delhi and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.
1) Answer: 1324
Solution:
1 should start the para as it introduces the Saheli Programme. It also states that an offer being made by the programme. 3 further takes the idea forward and gives details about it. 2 and 4 form a pair as 4 refers to some talks, the topic for which is mentioned in 2. Thus, the correct order is 1324.
Question 2: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out.
1. Neuroscientists have just begun studying exercise’s impact within brain cells — on the genes themselves.
2. Even there, in the roots of our biology, they’ ve found signs of the body’s influence on the mind.
3. It turns out that moving our muscles produces proteins that travel through the bloodstream and into the brain, where they play pivotal roles in the mechanisms of our highest thought processes.
4. In today’s technology-driven, plasma-screened-in world, it’s easy to forget that we are born movers-animals, in fact — because we’ ve engineered movement right out of our lives.
5. It’s only in the past few years that neuroscientists have begun to describe these factors and how they work, and each new discovery adds awe-inspiring depth to the picture.
2) Answer: 4
Solution:
After reading all the sentences, we know that the passage is about the study of the effect of exercise on the mind by the neuroscientists. Statement 1 is the opening sentence as it introduces the main idea and suggests that neuroscientists have started studying the effect of exercise on the mind. Statement 2 discusses the findings of the study mentioned in statement 1. Statement 3 further elaborates the finding and explains the reasons behind the effect of exercise on brain cells. Statement 5 is a conclusion sentence based on the study mentioned in the three sentences mentioned earlier. Thus, 1235 forms a meaningful paragraph.
Statement 4 focuses on our ignorance of movements due to the widespread use of technology. Other four sentences are about the relationship between exercise and brain cells. However, statement 4 is about a different topic. Therefore, statement 4 is an odd sentence which does not fit in the paragraph.
Hence, 4 is the correct answer.
Question 3: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the ODD ONE out. Choose its number as your answer and key it in.
1) Translators are like bumblebees.
2) Though long since scientifically disproved, this factoid is still routinely trotted out.
3) Similar pronouncements about the impossibility of translation have dogged practitioners since Leonardo Bruni’s De interpretatione recta, published in 1424.
4) Bees, unaware of these deliberations, have continued to flit from flower to flower, and translators continue to translate.
5) In 1934, the French entomologist August Magnan pronounced the flight of the bumblebee to be aerodynamically impossible.
3) Answer: 2
Solution:
On reading the sentences, we can infer that the author draws an analogy between translators and bumblebees in the paragraph.
1 should be the opening sentence since it introduces the fact that the paragraph is going to be about the similarities of translators and bumblebees. After sentence 1, the author should have explained how they are analogous.
5 states that the French entomologist August Magnan pronounced the flight of bumblebees to be aerodynamically impossible. Sentence 3 talks about similar statements made about translations. Sentence 4 should be the last sentence since it concludes by saying that both translators and bees have continued their work unaware of these deliberations. Sentences 1534 can be put together into a coherent paragraph.
Sentence 2 does not add any valuable information to the topic of discussion. The author does not use the fact that the factoid (impossibility of the flight of the bumblebee) has been disproved to support his argument. Sentence 2 should be the one out of context and hence, 2 is the correct answer.
Question 4: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out.
1) Displacement in Bengal is thus not very significant in view of its magnitude.
2) A factor of displacement in Bengal is the shifting course of the Ganges leading to erosion of river banks.
3) The nature of displacement in Bengal makes it an interesting case study.
4) Since displacement due to erosion is well spread over a long period of time, it remains invisible.
5) Rapid displacement would have helped sensitize the public to its human costs.
4) Answer: 5
Solution:
On reading the sentences, we can infer that the paragraph revolves around the displacement of people in Bengal due to erosion. 3 should be the opening sentence since it introduces the topic of discussion – displacement in Bengal. 3 should be followed by sentence 2 since it elaborates that the displacement is due to the shifting of the course of the Ganges and the erosion. We have to decide the pair between 5, 4, and 1.
Sentence 4 is definitely a part of the paragraph since it fits well with both the sentences. Also, it states an important detail – the displacement is spread out over a period of time and hence, remains invisible. Since the displacement is not rapid, its magnitude is not significant. Sentences 4 and 1 form a pair and hence, sentence 5 is the one out of context.
Question 5: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of four numbers as your answer.
1.The eventual diagnosis was skin cancer and after treatment all seemed well.
2. The viola player didn’t know what it was; nor did her GP.
3. Then a routine scan showed it had come back and spread to her lungs.
4. It started with a lump on Cathy Perkins’ index finger.
5) Answer: 4213
Solution:
Sentence 4 should be the opening sentence since it sets the scene and introduces the person suffering from cancer.
Sentence 2 states that the viola player and her physician did not know what it was. ‘It’ refers to the lump on the finger.
Sentence 1 should follow sentence 2 since it states what the eventual diagnosis was. The GP did not know what the lump was and later it was identified to be skin cancer. Sentence 1 states that all seemed well after the treatment, implying it was not.
Sentence 3 should be the last sentence since it states that the cancer had spread to her lungs.
Sentences 4213 form a coherent paragraph and hence, 4213 is the right answer.
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Question 6: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of four numbers as your answer.
1) The woodland’s canopy receives most of the sunlight that falls on the trees.
2) Swifts do not confine themselves to woodlands, but hunt wherever there are insects in the air.
3) With their streamlined bodies, swifts are agile flyers, ideally adapted to twisting and turning through the air as they chase flying insects – the creatures that form their staple diet.
4) Hundreds of thousands of insects fly in the sunshine up above the canopy, some falling prey to swifts and swallows
6) Answer: 1432
Solution:
1 should be the opening sentence since it sets the context. Sentence 1 states that the woodland’s canopy receives most of the sunshine that falls on the trees. Sentence 4 continues sentence 1 by stating that thousands of insects fly above the canopy in the sunlight. The insects fall prey to the swifts and swallows.
We have to decide whether the order of the remaining 2 sentences is 32 or 23.
Sentence 3 states that swifts are agile flyers, adapted to chasing flying insects. Sentence 3 states that flying insects form the staple diet of the swifts. Sentence 2 states that swifts do not confine themselves to woodlands and hunt wherever they can find insects. Therefore, sentence 3 should precede sentence 2 (We cannot introduce that insects form the staple diet after stating that swifts hunt wherever they can find flying insects).
Sentences 1432 form a coherent paragraph.
Therefore, 1432 is the correct answer.
Question 7: The four sentences (labelled 1,2,3,4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper sequence of order of the sentences and key in this sequence of four numbers as your answer:
1. In the era of smart world, however, ‘Universal Basic Income’ is an
ineffective instrument which cannot address the potential breakdown of
the social contract when large swathes of the population would
effectively be unemployed.
2. In the era of industrial revolution, the abolition of child labour,
poor laws and the growth of trade unions helped families cope with the
pressures of mechanised work.
3. Growing inequality could be matched by a creeping authoritarianism
that is bolstered by technology that is increasingly able to peer into
the deepest vestiges of our lives.
4. New institutions emerge which recognise ways in which workers could
contribute to and benefit by economic growth when, rather than if, their
jobs are automated.
7) Answer: 4213
Solution:
4 should be the opening sentence since it states that new institutions recognize ways in which workers can contribute to the economy. The other 3 sentences provide examples and elaborate on the same and hence, sentence 4, which introduces the topic of discussion, should be the opening sentence.
2 talks about the period of industrial revolution. 1 talks about the smart world. Chronologically, 1 should follow 2. Moreover, 2 talks about an example that conformed to the point mentioned in sentence 4. On the other hand, 1 talks about an inadequacy. Therefore, 2 should have preceded 1. 3 should be the last sentence of the paragraph.
Sentences 4213 form a coherent paragraph and hence, 4213 is the correct answer.
Question 8: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out.
1. Much has been recently discovered about the development of songs in birds.
2. Some species are restricted to a single song learned by all individuals, others have a range of songs.
3. The most important auditory stimuli for the birds are the sounds of other birds.
4. For all bird species there is a prescribed path to development of the final song,
5. A bird begins with the subsong, passes through plastic song, until it achieves the species song.
8) Answer: 3
Solution:
On reading the sentences, we can infer that the paragraph talks about the development of songs in birds.
1 should be the opening sentence since it introduces the topic of discussion, the development of songs in birds. 1 provides a proper introduction to the paragraph by stating that much has been discovered about the development of songs in birds.
4 should be the sentence that follows 1 since it states that the development of songs in birds follow a template process.
5 explains the mechanism in which the song is developed. Therefore, sentence 5 should follow sentence 4.
2 should be the last sentence since it states that some species restrict themselves to one song while other species have more than one song.
Sentences 1452 form a coherent paragraph. Sentence 3 talks about the sounds of birds while the other sentences are about how a species develops a song. Therefore, sentence 3 is the one out of context and hence, 3 is the right answer.
Question 9: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of four numbers as your answer.
1. It was his taxpayers who had to shell out as much as $1.6bn over 10 years to employees of failed companies.
2. Companies in many countries routinely engage in such activities which means that the employees are left with unpaid entitlements
3. Deliberate and systematic liquidation of a company to avoid liabilities and then restarting the business is called phoenixing.
4. The Australian Minister for Revenue and Services discovered in an audit that phoenixing had cost the Australian economy between $2.9bn and $5.1bn last year.
9) Answer: 3241
Solution:
3 should be the opening sentence since it introduces the concept of phoenixing. Sentence 2 logically continues sentence 1 by stating that companies in many countries engage in such activities (Phoenixing). Sentence 2 should be followed by sentence 4 since it moves to a specific instance (Australian minister’s discovery) from general statements. Sentence 1 should follow sentence 4 since it states that it was ‘his’ taxpayers (Australian Minister’s taxpayers or Australian citizens) who had to foot the bill.
Sentences 3241 form a coherent paragraph. Therefore, 3241 is the correct answer.
Question 10: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key the number in:
1. Our smartphones can now track our diets, our biological cycles, even our digestive systems and sleep-patterns.
2. Researchers have even coined a new term, “orthosomnia”, to describe the insomnia brought on by paying too much attention to smartphones and sleep-tracking apps.
3. Sleep, nature’s soft nurse, is a blissful, untroubled state all too easily disturbed by earthly worries or a guilty conscience.
4. The existence of a market for such apps is unsurprising: shift work, a long-hours culture and blue light from screens have conspired to rob many of us of sufficient rest.
5. A new threat to a good night’s rest has emerged – smart-phones, with sleep-tracking apps.
10) Answer: 3
Solution:
The use of the word “such apps” in 4 indicates that 4 must be preceded by a line that mentions a type of app. We find this in 5 and 2. So the pairs could be 5-4 or 2-4. If we see the sentences 5 and 1 they introduce the topic under discussion and provide context for the details provided in 2 and 4. Hence, 1 and 5 should come at the start of the paragraph and 2-4 should be the end of the paragraph. Between 5 and 1, 5 provides a better opening line as it introduces the main topic of discussion. Hence, the order of the paragraph should be 5-1-2-4.
Sentence 3 which talks of “guilty conscience” is out of context with the rest of the paragraph.
Question 11: Choose the option that best captures the essence of the text.
Local communities have often come in conflict with agents trying to exploit resources, at a faster pace, for an expanding commercial-industrial economy. More often than not, such agents of resource-intensification are given preferential treatment by the state, through the grant of generous long leases over mineral or fish stocks, for example, or the provision of raw material at an enormously subsidized price. With the injustice so compounded, local communities at the receiving end of this process have no recourse except direct action, resisting both the state and outside exploiters through a variety of protest techniques. These struggles might perhaps be seen as a manifestation of a new kind of class conflict.
a) A new kind of class conflict arises from preferential treatments given to agents of resource-intensification by the state, which the local community sees as unfair.
b) The grant of long leases to agents of resource-intensification for an expanding commercial-industrial economy leads to direct protests from the local community, which sees it as unfair.
c) Preferential treatment given by the state to agents of resource-intensification for an expanding commercial-industrial economy exacerbates injustice to local communities and leads to direct protests from them, resulting in a new type of class conflict.
d) Local communities have no option but to protest against agents of resource intensification and create a new type of class conflict when they are given raw material at subsidized prices for an expanding commercial-industrial economy.
11) Answer (C)
Solution:
The main idea of the paragraph is the reasons behind the generation of class conflict.Option C correctly summarises this para.Option A and B talks nothing about the class conflict.
Option D is incorrect as it does not mention the role of state in generation of class conflict.
Question 12: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’ s position.
To me, a “classic” means precisely the opposite of what my predecessors understood: a work is classical by reason of its resistance to contemporaneity and supposed universality, by reason of its capacity to indicate human particularity and difference in that past epoch. The classic is not what tells me about shared humanity — or, more truthfully put, what lets me recognize myself as already present in the past, what nourishes in me the illusion that everything has been like me and has existed only to prepare the way for me. Instead, the classic is what gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness for any given generation of readers, and thereby expands for them the range of possibilities of what it means to be a human being.
a) A classic is able to focus on the contemporary human condition and a unified experience of human consciousness.
b) A classical work seeks to resist particularity and temporal difference even as it focuses on a common humanity.
c) A classic is a work exploring the new, going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness.
d) A classic is a work that provides access to a universal experience of the human race as opposed to radically different forms of human consciousness.
12) Answer (C)
Solution:
The author states that a classic is not which puts him at the centre of the universe but one which gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness.
Let us evaluate the options.
Option A states that a classic should focus on unified human experience. The author mentions the exact opposite in the paragraph. Therefore, we can eliminate option A. We can eliminate option D too since it mentions the polar opposite of what that is mentioned in the paragraph. The author is of the view that a classic should go beyond providing a unified human experience and expose one to radically different forms of human consciousness.
We can eliminate option B since it states that a classic focuses on common humanity. Only option C captures the essence of the given paragraph and hence, option C is the right answer.
Question 13: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’ s position.
A translator of literary works needs a secure hold upon the two languages involved, supported by a good measure of familiarity with the two cultures. For an Indian translating works in an Indian language into English, finding satisfactory equivalents in a generalized western culture of practices and symbols in the original would be less difficult than gaining fluent control of contemporary English. When a westerner works on texts in Indian languages the interpretation of cultural elements will be the major challenge, rather than control over the grammar and essential vocabulary of the language concerned. It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content. Since it is easier for an Indian to learn the English language than it is for a Briton or American to comprehend Indian culture, translations of Indian texts is better left to Indians.
a) While translating, the Indian and the westerner face the same challenges but they have different skill profiles and the former has the advantage.
b) As preserving cultural meanings is the essence of literary translation Indians’ knowledge of the local culture outweighs the initial disadvantage of lower fluency in English.
c) Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
d) Westerners might be good at gaining reasonable fluency in new languages, but as understanding the culture reflected in literature is crucial, Indians remain better placed.
13) Answer (C)
Solution:
Let us note down the important points put down by the author.
Indians have better knowledge of their culture. A westerner might be fluent in the language but will find it hard to relate to the culture. Indians, on the other hand, might be less fluent in the language but will be able to preserve the culture when a text is translated. Therefore, Indians should translate Indian texts.
Let us evaluate the options now.
Option A states that Indians and Westerners face the same challenges but they have different skill sets. Indians and Westerners face different challenges while translating the text. Indians face difficulty in the language and westerners face difficulty in relating to the culture. Therefore, we can eliminate option A.
Option D fails to capture the fact that the primary intention of the paragraph is not to pit Indians against westerners but to suggest that Indians should translate Indian texts. Also, it does not capture the fact that Indians will retain the advantage only when translating the Indian texts. Therefore, we can eliminate option D.
Option B, though true, fails to capture the India-centric angle that the paragraph adopts. The paragraph places huge emphasis on the term ‘Indian texts’ and only option C manages to capture this fact. Also, only option C captures the fact that it is easier to remedy errors in the language than to fix errors in the interpretation of culture. Therefore, option C is the right answer.
Question 14: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’ s position.
For each of the past three years, temperatures have hit peaks not seen since the birth of meteorology, and probably not for more than 110,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is at its highest level in 4 million years. This does not cause storms like Harvey — there have always been storms and hurricanes along the Gulf of Mexico — but it makes them wetter and more powerful. As the seas warm, they evaporate more easily and provide energy to storm fronts. As the air above them warms, it holds more water vapour. For every half a degree Celsius in warming, there is about a 3% increase in atmospheric moisture content. Scientists call this the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This means the skies fill more quickly and have more to dump. The storm surge was greater because sea levels have risen 20 cm as a result of more than 100 years of human- related global warming which has melted glaciers and thermally expanded the volume of seawater.
a) The storm Harvey is one of the regular, annual ones from the Gulf of Mexico; global warming and Harvey are unrelated phenomena.
b) Global warming does not breed storms but makes them more destructive; the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, though it predicts potential increase in atmospheric moisture content, cannot predict the scale of damage storms might wreck.
c) Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in seawater volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy.
d) It is naive to think that rising sea levels and the force of tropical storms are unrelated; Harvey was destructive as global warming has armed it with more moisture content, but this may not be true of all storms.
14) Answer (C)
Solution:
Let us note down the important points in the given paragraph.
Global warming does not cause storms but make them more powerful. Due to the increase in the temperature, the air can absorb more moisture. This relationship (the change in the ability to absorb water with the increase in the temperature) is given by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.
Let us evaluate the options.
The author provides storm Harvey as an example to illustrate how increased temperatures can arm the storms with more power. Harvey is not the central theme of the given paragraph. We can eliminate options A and D since option D places much emphasis on storm Harvey and option A states that there is no relationship between the increase in temperature and the power of storms.
Option B states that the Clausius-Clapeyron equation cannot predict the quantum of destruction that a storm might cause. This point is totally out of context with respect to what that is being discussed in the paragraph. Therefore, we can eliminate option B as well.
Option C precisely explains the mechanism through which global warming makes the modern storms more destructive. Therefore, option C is the right answer.
Question 15: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’ s position.
North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars (Amorpha juglandis) look like easy meals for birds, but they have a trick up their sleeves — they produce whistles that sound like bird alarm calls, scaring potential predators away. At first, scientists suspected birds were simply startled by the loud noise. But a new study suggests a more sophisticated mechanism: the caterpillar’s whistle appears to mimic a bird alarm call, sending avian predators scrambling for cover. When pecked by a bird, the caterpillars whistle by compressing their bodies like an accordion and forcing air out through specialized holes in their sides. The whistles are impressively loud — they have been measured at over 80 dB from 5 cm away from the caterpillar — considering they are made by a two-inch long insect.
a) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars will whistle periodically to ward off predator birds – they have a specialized vocal tract that helps them whistle.
b) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars can whistle very loudly; the loudness of their whistles is shocking as they are very small insects.
c) The North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in a case of acoustic deception, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves.
d) North American. walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in. a case of deception and camouflage, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves.
15) Answer (C)
Solution:
According to the paragraph, the North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars produce whistles which are extremely loud considering their size. These whistles appear to mimic bird(predator) alarm calls which scares them to look for cover. Thus, these sounds act as acoustic deception and help the insect to defend themselves against predators.
Option A mentions about vocal tracts which is out of scope. Hence, it can be eliminated.
Option B though correct, fails to mention the use of sound to defend against the predators. Hence, it can be eliminated.
Option C captures all the main points and hence is right choice.
Option D mentions ‘camouflage’ which is also out of context. Hence, it can be eliminated.
Hence, option C is the right answer.
Question 16: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Both Socrates and Bacon were very good at asking useful questions. In fact, Socrates is largely credited with coming up with a way of asking questions, ‘the Socratic method,’ which itself is at the core of the ‘scientific method,’ popularised by Bacon. The Socratic method disproves arguments by finding exceptions to them, and can therefore lead your opponent to a point where they admit something that contradicts their original position. In common with Socrates, Bacon stressed it was as important to disprove a theory as it was to prove one — and real-world observation and experimentation were key to achieving both aims. Bacon also saw science as a collaborative affair, with scientists working together, challenging each other.
a) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated clever questioning of the opponents to disprove their arguments and theories.
b) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated challenging arguments and theories by observation and experimentation.
c) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated confirming arguments and theories by finding exceptions.
d) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining arguments and theories from both sides to prove them.
16) Answer (D)
Solution:
According to the paragraph, Socrates and Bacon were good at asking questions. The Socratic method works in a way by finding exceptions to the arguments of the opponent, which makes the opponent to agree on something that contradicts their original position. In a similar way, Bacon stressed that it was important to disprove theory as it is to prove it. Thus both Socrates and Bacon stressed on examining arguments from both ends – to prove as well as disprove.
Option A, which speaks only about disproving of arguments, can be eliminated.
Option B talks only about examining and observation. Hence, it can be eliminated.
Option C talks only about confirming of arguments and not the other way. Hence, it can be eliminated.
Option D captures the main points which we discussed earlier.
Hence, option D is the right answer.
Question 17: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’ s position.
A fundamental property of language is that it is slippery and messy and more liquid than solid, a gelatinous mass that changes shape to fit. As Wittgenstein would remind us, “usage has no sharp boundary.” Oftentimes, the only way to determine the meaning of a word is to examine how it is used. This insight is often described as the “meaning is use” doctrine. There are differences between the “meaning is use” doctrine and a dictionary-first theory of meaning. “The dictionary’s careful fixing of words to definitions, like butterflies pinned under glass, can suggest that this is how language works. The definitions can seem to ensure and fix the meaning of words, just as the gold standard can back a country’s currency.” What Wittgenstein found in the circulation of ordinary language, however, was a free-floating currency of meaning. The value of each word arises out of the exchange. The lexicographer abstracts a meaning from that exchange, which is then set within the conventions of the dictionary definition.
a) Dictionary definitions are like ‘gold standards’ — artificial, theoretical and dogmatic. Actual meaning of words is their free-exchange value.
b) Language is already slippery; given this, accounting for ‘meaning in use’ will only exasperate the problem. That is why lexicographers ‘fix’ meanings.
c) Meaning is dynamic; definitions are static. The ‘meaning in use’ theory helps us understand that definitions of words are culled from their meaning in exchange and use and not vice versa.
d) The meaning of words in dictionaries is clear, fixed and less dangerous and ambiguous than the meaning that arises when words are exchanged between people.
17) Answer (C)
Solution:
According to the paragraph, language is like a gelatinous mass that changes shape to fit. Also, many times the only way to find meaning of word is to examine how it is used. It is stated that definitions are fixed for the word by dictionary.Wittgenstein found that circulation of ordinary language was a free-floating currency of meaning. So the meanings are dynamic. Thus, the value of word arises from the exchange and then the lexicographer abstracts meaning from that exchange. Thus, definitions are picked up from the meaning in use.
Option A, which states that definitions are like dogmatic, cannot be found in the paragraph. Hence, it can be eliminated.
The paragraph doesn’t talk about why lexicographers fix meanings. Hence, option B can be eliminated.
Option C covers all the main points. Hence, it is the right choice.
The purpose of the passage is not to compare meaning of words in dictionaries with meaning which arises from exchange. Hence, option D can be eliminated.
Hence, option C is the right choice.
Question 18: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Production and legitimation of scientific knowledge can be approached from a number of perspectives. To study knowledge production from the sociology of professions perspective would mean a focus on the institutionalization of a body of knowledge. The professions-approach informed earlier research on managerial occupation, business schools and management knowledge. It however tends to reify institutional power structures in its understanding of the links between knowledge and authority. Knowledge production is restricted in the perspective to the selected members of the professional community, most notably to the university faculties and professional colleges. Power is understood as a negative mechanism, which prevents the non-professional actors from offering their ideas and information as legitimate knowledge.
a) Professions-approach focuses on the creation of institutions of higher education and disciplines to promote knowledge production
b) The study of knowledge production can be done through many perspectives.
c) The professions-approach has been one of the most relied upon perspective in the study of management knowledge production.
d) Professions-approach aims at the institutionalization of knowledge but restricts knowledge production as a function of a select few.
18) Answer (D)
Solution:
Let us note down the important points.
Professions-approach structures and institutionalizes knowledge but knowledge production is restricted to the select members of the community. It prevents the non-professional actors from offering their ideas.
Options A, B, and C do not capture the negative aspects of the professions-approach at all. They just focus on the advantages offered by the approach but the given paragraph places a huge emphasis on the limitations of the approach as well. Only option D captures both the advantage offered by the approach and its limitations. Therefore, option D is the right answer.
Question 19: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
The conceptualization of landscape as a geometric object first occurred in Europe and is historically related to the European conceptualization of the organism, particularly the human body, as a geometric object with parts having a rational, three-dimensional organization and integration. The European idea of landscape appeared before the science of landscape emerged, and it is no coincidence that Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of the human body, also facilitated an understanding of the structure of landscape. Landscape which had been a subordinate background to religious or historical narratives, became an independent genre or subject of art by the end of sixteenth century or the beginning of the seventeenth century.
a) The three-dimensional understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape.
b) Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century.
c) The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.
d) The Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art.
19) Answer (C)
Solution:
Let us note down the main points of the given paragraph:
The given paragraph describes how the study of landscape gained prominence and became an independent genre. Renaissance artists facilitated the development of the field as an independent genre.
Let us evaluate the options one by one.
Option A states that understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape. Though this option is true, it fails to capture the fact that the field evolved as an independent genre with the help of Renaissance artists.
Option B states that Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century. Again, option B fails to capture the role played by the Renaissance artists.
Option D states that Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art. The paragraph mentions that the artists facilitated in the transformation of the field into an independent genre. Option D establishes a strong relationship and holds Renaissance artists ‘responsible’ for the study of landscape ‘as a subject of art’. The parts within the quotes disregard the fact that the artists just aided the process. They were not solely responsible for the development. Therefore, we can eliminate option D.
Only option C captures the fact that the renaissance artists ‘aided’ in the development of the study of landscape as an independent genre and hence, option C is the right answer.
Question 20: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Artificial embryo twinning is a relatively low-tech way to make clones. As the name suggests, this technique mimics the natural process that creates identical twins. In nature, twins form very early in development when the embryo splits in two. Twinning happens in the first days after egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of just a small number of unspecialized cells. Each half of the embryo continues dividing on its own, ultimately developing into separate, complete individuals. Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resulting individuals are genetically identical.
a) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and mimetic of the natural development of genetically identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
b) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and is close to the natural development of twins where the embryo splits into two identical twins.
c) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech unlike the natural development of identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
d) Artificial embryo twinning is just like the natural development of twins, where during fertilization twins are formed.
20) Answer (A)
Solution:
The author mentions that artificial embryo twinning is ‘low tech’ to introduce the topic. Then, he explains how the process is exactly similar to the process of development of twins. He states that the process mimics the natural development of twins. He has not highlighted any of the differences between the 2 processes.
Let us evaluate the options.
Option C states that artificial embryo twinning is ‘low tech’ unlike the natural development of twins. The author makes no such comparison in the paragraph and hence, option C can be eliminated.
Option D states that the twins are formed during fertilization but the paragraph mentions that the twins are formed after the process of fertilization (i.e, after the sperm and the egg join).
Option B fails to capture the fact that the twins are ‘genetically’ identical. Also, it states that the artificial twinning process is ‘close to’ the natural development of twins. Though this option is not incorrect, option A is worded in a better way. Option A states that the process is mimetic of the natural development of the twins (emphasizing that no difference has been highlighted), the twins are genetically identical and the process is similar to the process of development of twins after fertilization. Therefore, option A is the right answer.
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