CAT 2017 Question Paper | CAT VA RC
CAT Question Paper | CAT Previous Year Paper
The VARC section of the CAT Exam has seen a shift from an equal weightage of Reading
Comprehension and Verbal Ability questions to a larger chunk of questions from the Reading
Comprehension passages. It is extremely important for a CAT aspirant to be well acquainted with
these changes and to practice questions and rejig their CAT Preparation Strategy accordingly. Go
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CAT VARC : CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot 2
Passage 1: Creativity
Creativity is at once our most precious resource and our most inexhaustible one.
As anyone who has ever spent any time with children knows, every single human being is born
creative; every human being is innately endowed with the ability to combine and recombine data,
perceptions, materials and ideas, and devise new ways of thinking and doing.What fosters
creativity? More than anything else: the presence of other creative people. The big myth is that
creativity is the province of great individual gen.iuses. In. fact creativity is a social
process. Our biggest creative breakthroughs come when people learn from, compete with, and
collaborate with other people.
Cities are the true fonts of creativity... With their
diverse populations, dense social networks, and public spaces where people can meet
spontaneously and serendipitously, they spark and catalyze new ideas. With their infrastructure
for finance, organization and trade, they allow those ideas to be swiftly actualized.
As
for what staunches creativity, that's easy, if ironic. It's the very institutions that we build
to manage, exploit and perpetuate the fruits of creativity — our big bureaucracies, and sad to
say, too many of our schools. Creativity is disruptive; schools and organizations are
regimented, standardized and stultifying.
The education expert Sir Ken Robinson points
to a 1968 study reporting on a group of 1,600 children who were tested over time for their
ability to think in out-of-the-box ways. When the children were between 3 and 5 years old, 98
percent achieved positive scores. When they were 8 to 10, only 32 percent passed the same test,
and only 10 percent at 13 to 15. When 280,000 25-year-olds took the test, just 2 percent passed.
By the time we are adults, our creativity has been wrung out of us.
I once asked the
great urbanist Jane Jacobs what makes some places more creative than others. She said,
essentially, that the question was an easy one. All cities, she said, were filled with creative
people; that's our default state as people. But some cities had more than their shares of
leaders, people and institutions that blocked out that creativity. She called them
"squelchers."
Creativity (or the lack of it) follows the same general contours of the
great socio-economic divide — our rising inequality — that plagues us. According to my own
estimates, roughly a third of us across the United States, and perhaps as much as half of us in
our most creative cities — are able to do work which engages our creative faculties to some
extent, whether as artists, musicians, writers, techies, innovators, entrepreneurs, doctors,
lawyers, journalists or educators — those of us who work with our minds. That leaves a group
that I term "the other 66 percent," who toil in low-wage rote and rotten jobs — if they have
jobs at all — in which their creativity is subjugated, ignored or wasted.
Creativity
itself is not in danger. It's flourishing is all around us — in science and technology, arts and
culture, in our rapidly revitalizing cities. But we still have a long way to go if we want to
build a truly creative society that supports and rewards the creativity of each and every one of
us.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
In the author's view, cities promote human creativity for all the following reasons EXCEPT that they
- contain spaces that enable people to meet and share new ideas.
- expose people to different and novel ideas, because they are home to varied groups of people.
- provide the financial and institutional networks that enable ideas to become reality.
- provide access to cultural activities that promote new and creative ways of thinking.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The author uses 'ironic' in the third paragraph to point out that
- people need social contact rather than isolation to nurture their creativity.
- institutions created to promote creativity eventually stifle it.
- the larger the creative population in a city, the more likely it is to be stifled.
- large bureaucracies and institutions are the inevitable outcome of successful cities.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The central idea of this passage is that
- social interaction is necessary to nurture creativity.
- creativity and ideas are gradually declining in all societies.
- the creativity divide is widening in societies in line with socio-economic trends.
- more people should work in jobs that engage their creative faculties.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
Jane Jacobs believed that cities that are more creative
- have to struggle to retain their creativity.
- have to 'squelch' unproductive people and promote creative ones.
- have leaders and institutions that do not block creativity.
- typically do not start off as creative hubs.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The 1968 study is used here to show that
- as they get older, children usually learn to be more creative.
- schooling today does not encourage creative thinking in children.
- the more children learn, the less creative they become.
- technology today prevents children from being creative.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The author's conclusions about the most 'creative cities' in the US (paragraph 6) are based on his assumption that
- people who work with their hands are not doing creative work
- more than half the population works in non-creative jobs.
- only artists, musicians, writers, and so on should be valued in a society.
- most cities ignore or waste the creativity of low-wage workers.
CAT VARC : CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot 2
Passage 2: Subnivium
During the frigid season... it's often necessary to nestle under a blanket to try
to stay warm. The temperature difference between the blanket and the air outside is so palpable
that we often have trouble leaving our warm refuge. Many plants and animals similarly hunker
down, relying on snow cover for safety from winter's harsh conditions. The small area between
the snowpack and the ground, called the subnivium... might be the most important ecosystem that
you have never heard of.
The subnivium is so well-insulated and stable that its
temperature holds steady at around 32 degree Fahrenheit (0 degree Celsius). Although that might
still sound cold, a constant temperature of 32 degree Fahrenheit can often be 30 to 40 degrees
warmer than the air temperature during the peak of winter. Because of this large temperature
difference, a wide variety of species...depend on the subnivium for winter protection.
For many organisms living in temperate and Arctic regions, the difference between being under
the snow or outside it is a matter of life and death. Consequently, disruptions to the subnivium
brought about by climate change will affect everything from population dynamics to nutrient
cycling through the ecosystem.
The formation and stability of the subnivium requires
more than a few flurries. Winter ecologists have suggested that eight inches of snow is
necessary to develop a stable layer of insulation. Depth is not the only factor, however. More
accurately, the stability of the subnivium depends on the interaction between snow depth and
snow density. Imagine being under a stack of blankets that are all flattened and pressed
together. When compressed, the blankets essentially form one compacted layer. In contrast, when
they are lightly placed on top of one another, their insulative capacity increases because the
air pockets between them trap heat. Greater depths of low-density snow are therefore better at
insulating the ground.
Both depth and density of snow are sensitive to temperature.
Scientists are now beginning to explore how climate change will affect the subnivium, as well as
the species that depend on it. At first glance, warmer winters seem beneficial for species that
have difficulty surviving subzero temperatures; however, as with most ecological phenomena, the
consequences are not so straightforward. Research has shown that the snow season (the period
when snow is more likely than rain) has become shorter since l970. When rain falls on snow, it
increases the density of the snow and reduces its insulative capacity. Therefore, even though
winters are expected to become warmer overall from future climate change, the subnivium will
tend to become colder and more variable with less protection from the above-ground
temperatures.
The effects of a colder subnivium are complex... For example, shrubs such
as crowberry and alpine azalea that grow along the forest floor tend to block the wind and so
retain higher depths of snow around them. This captured snow helps to keep soils insulated and
in turn increases plant decomposition and nutrient release. In field experiments, researchers
removed a portion. of the snow cover to investigate the importance of the subnivium's
insulation. They found that soil frost in the snow-free area resulted in damage to plant roots
and sometimes even the death of the plant.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The purpose of this passage is to
- introduce readers to a relatively unknown ecosystem: the subnivium.
- explain how the subnivium works to provide shelter and food to several species.
- outline the effects of climate change on the subnivium.
- draw an analogy between the effect of blankets on humans and of snow cover on species living in the subnivium.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
All of the following statements are true EXCEPT
- Snow depth and Snow density both influence the stability of the subnivium.
- Climate change has some positive effects on the subnivium.
- The subnivium maintains a steady temperature that can be 30 to 40 degrees warmer than the winter air temperature.
- Researchers have established the adverse effects of dwindling snow cover on the subnivium.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
Based on this extract, the author would support which one of the following actions?
- The use of snow machines in winter to ensure snow cover of at least eight inches.
- Government action to curb climate change.
- Adding nutrients to the soil in winter.
- Planting more shrubs in areas of short snow season.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
In paragraph 6, the author provides the examples of crowberry and alpine azalea to demonstrate that
- Despite frigid temperatures, several species survive in temperate and Arctic regions.
- Due to frigid temperatures in the temperate and Arctic regions, plant species that survive tend to be shrubs rather than trees.
- The crowberry and alpine azalea are abundant in temperate and Arctic regions.
- The stability of the subnivium depends on several interrelated factors, including shrubs on the forest floor.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
Which one of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?
- In an ecosystem, altering any one element has a ripple effect on all others.
- Climate change affects temperate and Artie regions more than equatorial or arid ones.
- A compact layer of wool is warmer than a similarly compact layer of goose down.
- The loss of the subnivium, while tragic, will affect only temperate and Artic regions.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
In paragraph 1, the author uses blankets as a device to
- evoke the bitter cold of winter in the minds of readers.
- explain how blankets work to keep us warm.
- draw an analogy between blankets and the snow pack.
- alert readers to the fatal effects of excessive exposure to the cold
CAT VARC : CAT 2017 Question Paper Slot 2
Passage 3: Electric Vehicles
The end of the age of the internal combustion engine is in sight. There are small
signs everywhere: the shift to hybrid vehicles is already under way among manufacturers. Volvo
has announced it will make no purely petrol-engined cars after 2019...and Tesla has just started
selling its first electric car aimed squarely at the middle classes: the Tesla 3 sells for
$35,000 in the US, and 400,000 people have put down a small, refundable deposit towards one.
Several thousand have already taken delivery, and the company hopes to sell half a million more
next year. This is a remarkable figure for a machine with a fairly short range and a very
limited number of specialised charging stations.
Some of it reflects the remarkable
abilities of Elon Musk, the company's founder, as a salesman, engineer, and a man able to get
the most out his factory workers and the governments he deals with...Mr Musk is selling a dream
that the world wants to believe in. This last may be the most important factor in the story. The
private car is...a device of immense practical help and economic significance, but at the same
time a theatre for myths of unattainable selffulfilment. The one thing you will never see in a
car advertisement is traffic, even though that is the element in which drivers spend their
lives. Every single driver in a traffic jam is trying to escape from it, yet it is the
inevitable consequence of mass car ownership.
The sleek and swift electric car is at one
level merely the most contemporary fantasy of autonomy and power. But it might also disrupt our
exterior landscapes nearly as much as the fossil fuel-engined car did in the last century.
Electrical cars would of course pollute far less than fossil fuel-driven ones; instead of oil
reserves, the rarest materials for batteries would make undeserving despots and their dynasties
fantastically rich. Petrol stations would disappear. The air in cities would once more be
breathable and their streets as quiet as those of Venice. This isn't an unmixed good. Cars that
were as silent as bicycles would still be as dangerous as they are now to anyone they hit
without audible warning.
The dream goes further than that. The electric cars of the
future will be so thoroughly equipped with sensors and reaction mechanisms that they will never
hit anyone. Just as brakes don't let you skid today, the steering wheel of tomorrow will swerve
you away from danger before you have even noticed it...
This is where the fantasy of
autonomy comes full circle. The logical outcome of cars which need no driver is that they will
become cars which need no owner either. Instead, they will work as taxis do, summoned at will
but only for the journeys we actually need. This the future towards which Uber...is working. The
ultimate development of the private car will be to reinvent public transport. Traffic jams will
be abolished only when the private car becomes a public utility. What then will happen to our
fantasies of independence? We' ll all have to take to electrically powered bicycles.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
Which of the following statements best reflects the author's argument?
- Hybrid and electric vehicles signal the end of the age of internal combustion engines.
- Elon Musk is a remarkably gifted salesman.
- The private car represents an unattainable myth of independence.
- The future Uber car will be environmentally friendlier than even the Tesla.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The author points out all of the following about electric cars EXCEPT
- Their reliance on rare materials for batteries will support despotic rule.
- They will reduce air and noise pollution.
- They will not decrease the number of traffic jams.
- They will ultimately undermine rather than further driver autonomy.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
According to the author, the main reason for Tesla's remarkable sales is that
- in the long run, the Tesla is more cost effective than fossil fuel-driven cars.
- the US government has announced a tax subsidy for Tesla buyers.
- the company is rapidly upscaling the number of specialised charging stations for customer convenience.
- people believe in the autonomy represented by private cars.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The author comes to the conclusion that
- car drivers will no longer own cars but will have to use public transport.
- cars will be controlled by technology that is more efficient than car drivers.
- car drivers dream of autonomy but the future may be public transport.
- electrically powered bicycles are the only way to achieve autonomy in transportation.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
In paragraphs 5 and 6, the author provides the example of Uber to argue that
- in the future, electric cars will be equipped with mechanisms that prevent collisions.
- in the future, traffic jams will not exist.
- in the future, the private car will be transformed into a form of public transport.
- in the future, Uber rides will outstrip Tesla sales.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
In paragraph 6, the author mentions electrically powered bicycles to argue that
- if Elon Musk were a true visionary, he would invest funds in developing electric bicycles.
- our fantasies of autonomy might unexpectedly require us to consider electric bicycles.
- in terms of environmental friendliness and safety, electric bicycles rather than electric cars are the future.
- electric buses are the best form of public transport.
Passage 4: Typewriters
Typewriters are the epitome of a technology that has been comprehensively rendered
obsolete by the digital age. The ink comes off the ribbon, they weigh a ton, and second thoughts
are a disaster. But they are also personal, portable and, above all, private. Type a document
and lock it away and more or less the only way anyone else can get it is if you give it to them.
That is why the Russians have decided to go back to typewriters in some government offices, and
why in the US, some departments have never abandoned them. Yet it is not just their resistance
to algorithms and secret surveillance that keeps typewriter production lines — well one, at
least — in business (the last British one closed a year ago). Nor is it only the nostalgic
appeal of the metal body and the stout well-defined keys that make them popular on eBay. A
typewriter demands something particular: attentiveness. By the time the paper is loaded, the
ribbon tightened, the carriage returned, the spacing and the margins set, there's a big premium
on hitting the right key. That means sorting out ideas, pulling together a kind of order and
organising details before actually striking off. There can be no thinking on screen with a
typewriter. Nor are there any easy distractions. No online shopping. No urgent emails. No
Twitter. No need even for electricity — perfect for writing in a remote hideaway. The thinking
process is accompanied by the encouraging clack of keys, and the ratchet of the carriage return.
Ping!
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
Which one of the following best describes what the passage is trying to do?
- It describes why people continue to use typewriters even in the digital age.
- It argues that typewriters will continue to be used even though they are an obsolete technology.
- It highlights the personal benefits of using typewriters.
- It shows that computers offer fewer options than typewriters.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
According to the passage, some governments still use typewriters because:
- they do not want to abandon old technologies that may be useful in the future.
- they want to ensure that typewriter production lines remain in business.
- they like the nostalgic appeal of typewriter.
- they can control who reads the document.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The writer praises typewriters for all the following reasons EXCEPT
- Unlike computers, they can only be used for typing.
- You cannot revise what you have typed on a typewriter.
- Typewriters are noisier than computers.
- Typewriters are messier to use than computers.
Passage 5: Viking age
Despite their fierce reputation, Vikings may not have always been the plunderers
and pillagers popular culture imagines them to be. In fact, they got their start trading in
northern European markets, researchers suggest.
Combs carved from animal antlers, as
well as comb manufacturing waste and raw antler material has turned up at three archaeological
sites in Denmark, including a medieval marketplace in the city of Ribe. A team of researchers
from Denmark and the U.K. hoped to identify the species of animal to which the antlers once
belonged by analyzing collagen proteins in the samples and comparing them across the animal
kingdom, Laura Geggel reports for LiveScience. Somewhat surprisingly, molecular analysis of the
artifacts revealed that some combs and other material had been carved from reindeer antlers....
Given that reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) don't live in Denmark, the researchers posit that it
arrived on Viking ships from Norway. Antler craftsmanship, in the form of decorative combs, was
part of Viking culture. Such combs served as symbols of good health, Geggel writes. The fact
that the animals shed their antlers also made them easy to collect from the large herds that
inhabited Norway.
Since the artifacts were found in marketplace areas at each site it's
more likely that the Norsemen came to trade rather than pillage. Most of the artifacts also date
to the 780s, but some are as old as 725. That predates the beginning of Viking raids on Great
Britain by about 70 years. (Traditionally, the so-called "Viking Age" began with these raids in
793 and ended with the Norman conquest of Great Britain in l066.) Archaeologists had suspected
that the Vikings had experience with long maritime voyages [that] might have preceded their
raiding days. Beyond Norway, these combs would have been a popular industry in Scandinavia as
wela: It' s possible that the antler combs represent a larger trade network, where the Norsemen
supplied raw material to craftsmen in Denmark and elsewhere.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The primary purpose of the passage is:
- to explain the presence of reindeer antler combs in Denmark.
- to contradict the widely-accepted beginning date for the Viking Age in Britain, and propose an alternate one.
- to challenge the popular perception of Vikings as raiders by using evidence that suggests their early trade relations with Europe.
- to argue that besides being violent pillagers„Vikings were also skilled craftsmen and efficient traders.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
The evidence - "Most of the artifacts also date to the 780s, but some are as old as 725" — has been used in the passage to argue that:
- the beginning date of the Viking Age should be changed from 793 to 725.
- the Viking raids started as early as 725.
- some of the antler artifacts found in Denmark and Great Britain could have come from Scandinavia.
- the Vikings' trade relations with Europe pre-dates the Viking raids.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
All of the following hold true for Vikings EXCEPT
- Vikings brought reindeer from Norway to Denmark for trade purposes.
- Before becoming the raiders of northern Europe, Vikings had trade relations with European nations.
- Antler combs, regarded by the Vikings as a symbol of good health, were part of the Viking culture.
- Vikings, once upon a time, had trade relations with Denmark and Scandinavia.
The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) given below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequence of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. Before plants can take life from atmosphere, nitrogen must undergo transformations similar to ones that food undergoes in our digestive machinery.
2. . In its aerial form nitrogen is insoluble, unusable and is in need of transformation.
3. Lightning starts the series of chemical reactions that need to happen to nitrogen, ultimately helping it nourish our earth.
4. Nitrogen — an essential food for plants — is an abundant resource, with about 22 million tons of it floating over each square mile of earth.
5. One of the most dramatic examples in nature of ill wind that blows goodness is lightning.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. This has huge implications for the health care system as it operates today, where depleted resources and time lead to patients rotating in and out of doctor's offices, oftentimes receiving minimal care or concern (what is commonly referred to as "bed side manner") from doctors.
2. The placebo effect is when an individual's medical condition or pain shows signs of improvement based on a fake intervention that has been presented to them as a real one and used to be regularly dismissed by researchers as a psychological effect.
3. The placebo effect is not solely based on believing in treatment, however, as the clinical setting in which treatments are administered is also paramount.
4. That the mind has the power to trigger biochemical changes because the individual believes that a given drug or intervention will be effective could empower chronic patients through the notion of our bodies' capacity for self-healing.
5. Placebo effects are now studied not just as foils for "real" interventions but as a potential portal into the self-healing powers of the body.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. Johnson treated English very practically, as a living language, with many different shades of meaning and adopted his definitions on the principle of English common law — according to precedent.
2. Masking a profound inner torment, Johnson found solace in compiling the words of a language that was, in its coarse complexity and comprehensive genius, the precise analogue of his character.
3. Samuel Johnson was a pioneer who raised common sense to heights of genius, and a man of robust popular instincts whose watchwords were clarity, precision and simplicity.
4. The 18th century English reader, in the new world of global trade and global warfare, needed a dictionary with authoritative acts of definition of words of a language that was becoming seeded throughout the first British empire by a vigorous and practical champion.
5. The Johnson who challenged Bishop Berkeley's solipsist theory of the nonexistence of matter by kicking a large stone ("I refute it thus") is the same Johnson for whom language must have a daily practical use.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. The implications of retelling of Indian stories, hence, takes on new meaning in a modern India.
2. The stories we tell reflect the world around us.
3. We cannot help but retell the stories that we value — after all, they are never quite right for us — in our time.
4. And even if we manage to get them quite right, they are only right for us — other people living around us will have different reasons for telling similar stories.
5. As soon as we capture a story, the world we were trying to capture has changed.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option
that best captures the essence of the passage.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
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.
- North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars will whistle periodically to ward off predator birds - they have a specialized vocal tract that helps them whistle.
- North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars can whistle very loudly; the loudness of their whistles is shocking as they are very small insects.
- The North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in a case of acoustic deception, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves
- North American. walnut sphinx moth caterpillars, in. a case of deception and camouflage, produce whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
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.
- Both Socrates and Bacon advocated clever questioning of the opponents to disprove their arguments and theories.
- Both Socrates and Bacon advocated challenging arguments and theories by observation and experimentation.
- Both Socrates and Bacon advocated confirming arguments and theories by finding exceptions.
- Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining arguments and theories from both sides to prove them.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
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 freefloating 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.
- Dictionary definitions are like 'gold standards' — artificial, theoretical and dogmatic. Actual meaning of words is their free-exchange value.
- Language is already slippery; given this, accounting for 'meaning in use' will only exasperate the problem. That is why lexicographers 'fix' meanings.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. Although we are born with the gift of language, research shows that we are surprisingly unskilled when it comes to communicating with others
2. We must carefully orchestrate our speech if we want to achieve our goals and bring our dreams to fruition.
3. We often choose our words without thought, oblivious of the emotional effects they can have on others.
4. We talk more than we need to, ignoring the effect we are having on those listening to us.
5. We listen poorly, without realizing it, and we often fail to pay attention to the subtle meanings conveyed by facial expressions, body gestures, and the tone and cadence of our voice.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. Over the past fortnight, one of its finest champions managed to pull off a similar impression.
2. Wimbledon's greatest illusion is the sense of timelessness it evokes.
3. At 35 years and 342 days, Roger Federer became the oldest man to win the singles title in the Open Era — a full 14 years after he first claimed the title as a scruffy, pony-tailed upstart.
4. Once he had survived the opening week, the second week witnessed the range of a rested Federer's genius.
5. Given that his method isn't reliant on explosive athleticism or muscular ball-striking, both vulnerable to decay, there is cause to believe that Federer will continue to enchant for a while longer.
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CAT Previous year paper - CAT Exam VA RC
1. Those geometric symbols and aerodynamic swooshes are more than just skin deep.
2. The Commonwealth Bank logo — a yellow diamond, with a black chunk sliced out in one corner — is so recognisable that the bank doesn't even use its full name in its advertising.
3. It's not just logos with hidden shapes; sometimes brands will have meanings or stories within them that are deliberately vague or lost in time, urging you to delve deeper to solve the riddle.
4. Graphic designers embed cryptic references because it adds a story to the brand; they want people to spend more time with a brand and have that idea that they are an insider if they can understand the hidden message.
5. But the CommBank logo has more to it than meets the eye, as squirrelled away in that diamond is the Southern Cross constellation.
