Official verbal ability thread for CAT 2014

MBA CAT 2024
1036

RC for the day, a little late though! @Highway66 @jay3421 @prate3k @sav-9 @pulkit_malik @Master-Yoda

In the hope of settling this dispute, I ask you to consider the history of literary women. It turns out, oddly, to be also a prolific history of "men," among whom the most celebrated are Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell (Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë), George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin), Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), Vernon Lee (Violet Paget).

The motive behind these necessary masquerades is hardly an urge to hide. Instead, it is a cry for recognition and a means of evading belittlement, or worse yet, the curse of not being noticed at all. The most pointed symptom and symbol of this pervasive fear is the poignant exchange between the 20-year-old Charlotte Brontë and Robert Southey, England's poet laureate. Humbly and diffidently, she had sent him a sampling of her poems, trusting that he might acknowledge the worth of what she knew to be her "single, absorbing, exquisite gratification."

His notorious reply, while conceding her "faculty of verse," is nearly all that remains of his once powerful fame. "Literature," he chided, "cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it, even as an accomplishment and a recreation." If such condescending sentiments leave a contemporary writer feeling sick at heart, Brontë thought the letter "kind and admirable; a little stringent, but it did me good."

The Orange Prize, then, was not born into an innocent republic of letters. Nor need we thumb through past centuries to discover the laureate's enduring principle. After gaining a modicum of notice following an eclipse lasting years, I was once praised, as a kind of apology, by a prominent editor with these surprising words: "I used to think of you as a lady writer" - an inborn condition understood to be frivolous and slight, and from which recovery is almost always anomalous.

So much for the defense of a reparative award dedicated solely to writers who are women. Advocacy of this sort, vigorously grounded as it is in a darker chamber of the literary continuum, is not the Orange's only defense. We are reminded that there are, abundantly, prizes for regional writers, for black writers, for Christian writers, for Jewish writers, for prison writers, for teenage writers, for science writers, and on and on. Why must a prize for women's writing be the single object of contention?

Yet this argument will not hold water. Each such category signals a particular affinity, or call it, more precisely, a culture (and in the case of Jews and Christians, a deeper and broader civilization), and women are integral to all of them. To argue for femaleness-as-culture is to condemn imaginative and intellectual freedom and to revert to the despised old anatomy-is-destiny.


Question . The author is likely to agree with which of the following? (a) Women writers look for recognition from their male counterparts and this has led to their subservience in the field of literature.

(b) Orange prize is another form of the old condescending attitudes of the literary establishment towards women.

(c) The prizes given exclusively to cultural groups are justified but the same cannot be said for prizes exclusive to women. 

(d) Women writers have had to face much derision in the past and the Orange Prize has come as a form of reprieve.


Question . Why does the author bring up the instance where she was called a 'lady writer' in paragraph 4?

(a) The author wishes to demonstrate the prejudiced views of an important individual.

(b) The author wants to prove that women writers are inherently different.

(c) The author wants to argue that there is a genuine case for the Orange prize being a reparative measure.

(d) The author wants to demonstrate that opinions regarding women writers have not changed since the time of Robert Southey.


Question. Why does the author ultimately concede 'this argument will not hold water'?

1. There are no awards that women writers are barred from competing for.

2. The award categorizes women writers as a separate culture.

3. The award works against the principles of intellectual freedom.

(a) 1 and 3

(b) 1 and 2

(c) 2 and 3

(d) Only 3

1037

any method to be followed while finding odd one out sentence?

plzz share it . response will be really appreciated.

1038

Guys got this question on lofoya.com:

Choose the most appropriate replacement:

The impostor eluded detection for so long because she conducted herself as though she were a licensed practitioner.

A.as though she were a licensed practitioner.

B.as though she was a licensed practitioner. 

C.like she was a licensed practitioner. 

D.like as if she was a licensed practitioner. 

E.as if she was a practitioner with a license.


1039

which is correct or both correct?

1. a man is incomplete without a woman.

2 man is incomplete without woman....

reply ....

1040


The problem of traffic congestion in Athens has been testing the ingenuity of politiciansand town planners for years. But the measures adapted to date have not succeeded indecreasing the number of cars on the road in the city centre. In 1980, odds and evensnumber-plate legislation was introduced under which odd and even plates were bannedin the city centre on alternate days thereby expecting to halve the number of cars in thecity centre. Then in 1993 it was decreed that all cars in use in the city centre must befitted with catalytic converters, the only condition being that the buyer of such a 'clean'car offered for destruction, a car at least 15-years old.Which one of the following options if true would best support the claim that themeasures adopted to date have not succeeded?

1. In the 1980s, many families purchased second cars with the requisite odd or even number plate.
2. In the mid-1990s, many families found it feasible to become first-time car owners by buying a car more than 15 years old and turning it in for a new car with catalytic converters.
3. Post-1993, many families found it feasible to become first-time car owners by buying a car more than 15-years old and buy 'clean' cars from the open market, even if it meant for going the import tax subsidy.
4. All of the above


1041

The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

The decay of sense in men waking is not the decay of the motion made in sense, but an obscuring of it, in such manner as the light of the sun obscures the light of the stars. But because amongst many strokes which our eyes, ears, and other organs receive from external bodies, the predominant only is sensible; therefore the light of the sun being predominant, we are not affected with the action of the stars. And any object being removed from our eyes, though the impression it made in us remains, yet other objects more present succeeding, and working on us, the imagination of the past is obscured and made weak this decaying sense, when we would express the thing itself, we call imagination. But when we would express the decay, and signify that the sense is fading, old, and past, it is called memory. So that imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names.

Much memory, or memory of many things, is called experience. Again, imagination being only of those things which have been formerly perceived by sense, either all at once or by parts at several times. The former is simple imagination, as when one imagines a man, or horse, which he has seen before. The other is compounded, when from the sight of a man at one time, and of a horse at another, we conceive in our mind a centaur. So when a man compounds the image of his own person with the image of the actions of another man, as when a man imagines himself a Hercules or an Alexander ,it is a compound imagination, and properly but a fiction of the mind. There are also other imaginations that rise in men : as from gazing upon the sun, the impression leaves an image of the sun before our eyes a long time after; and looking attentively at geometrical figures for a long time, a man shall in the dark, though awake, have the images of lines and angles before his eyes.

The imaginations during sleep are what we call dreams. And because in sense, the brain and nerves, which are the necessary organs of sense, are so benumbed in sleep as not easily to be moved by the action of external objects, there can happen in sleep no imagination, and therefore no dream. But what proceeds from the agitation of the inward parts of man's body obscures them with a more vigorous impression, a dream it seems is more clear, in this silence of sense, than are our waking thoughts. And hence for the most part, when we consider that in dreams we do not often nor constantly think of the same persons, places, objects, and actions that we do on waking, nor remember so long a train of coherent thoughts dreaming as at other times; and because waking we often observe the absurdity of dreams, but never dream of the absurdities of our waking thoughts, we are well satisfied that, being awake, we know we dream not; though when we dream, we think ourselves awake.


1. Which of the following will be a suitable title for the passage?

(a) Imagination versus memory

(b) Imagination and memory

(c) Memory and experience

(d) Different forms of Imagination


2. The author of the passage is most likely to agree with which of the statements below?

(a) No dreams occur in sleep.

(b) What occupies our thoughts when awake occupies our thoughts in sleep.

(c) Our waking thoughts are more absurd than our thoughts when asleep.

(d) Our senses are dulled in sleep.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that

(a) juxtaposition of images produces a fallacy.

(b) our sense of the past and the present is on an equal level.

(c) what we imagine is what we dream.

(d) imagination involves only things perceived by sense.

@Highway66 lo sir RC !

1042

Can anyone tell me how to approach questions of binary logic truth,lie,alternator... I am unable to manage these kind of questions.

1043

choose the correct option

1. what Luck !

2.what a luck !

  • 2 is correct
  • 1 is correct
  • i don’t know
  • both correct

0 voters

1044


Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one of the chief............... of women's rights

A) promoters    B) facilitators    C) instigators    D) organisers    E) protagonists

1045

find error in sentence if any ?          Almost no San Francisco officers live in the city anymore,and neither do most restaurant workers or healthcare workers.

1046


Three out of four sentences in the options, when correctly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Which of the following sentences does not fit into the context?

Question:

1] So not only do we know how old the Earth actually is, we also know (because we understand how long it will take the Sun to exhaust its fuel) how old the Earth will get.

 

2] Since the universe began, 13.7 billion years ago (plus or minus 0.2 billion), stars like our sun have been forming, burning and blowing up, their nuclear fusion furnaces making progressively heavier elements out of hydrogen - the simplest and most abundant atom.

 

3] Although the Earth is about 4.7 billion years old at the moment, it is actually a galactic youngster - the universe was already 9 billion years old when the Earth started to form from cosmic dust and debris.

 

4] The Earth's lifespan is determined by the Sun, which will engulf our world in its death throes.

1047

Can anyone suggest some good sources for practicing the questions on incorrect usage of words?

1048

95% in the main cat exam requires how much of marks for both the sections in the average paper....


1049



1. I can think of no serious prose play that has survive the generation that gave it birth.

a. They are meseum pieces.

b. They are revived now and then bcoz a famous part tempts a leading actor,or a manager in want of a stop-gap thinks he will put on a play on which he has no loyalties to pay.

c. A few comedies have haphazardly travelled down a couple of centuries or so.

d. The audience laugh at their with with politeness and at their farce with embarrassment.

6. They are not held nor taken out of themselves.

CDBA,CBAD,ABDC,BACD

1050

Find the error.

In response to the allegations and condemnation pouring in, Nike implemented comprehensive changes in their labour policy.

1051

Found this Verbal ability thread quite good . Do check it out.

http://www.mbarendezvous.com/verbal-ability-questions-with-solutions.php

1052

I had posted this in one of the comments but i want nobody to miss out on this ! so posting it here !

For all those verbal suc**** like me who dont have ny idea about Head and tail 🍻 🍻 



FACTS:

1. They can be verified or discovered

2. Applicable to all Universal truths.

3. Anything that is seen, heard or read is a fact.

4. Anyone elses opinion stated by the author is a fact. (The personal opinion will become a judgement)

5. Figures, Statistics or other data without an opinion attached to it is a fact. (with an opinion attached becomes an inference). 

INFERENCES: 1. A logical conclusion based on a set of facts. (Logical conclusion meaning, anyone seeing those set of facts should be able to arrive at that.)

2. Change the facts and the conclusion will no longer be valid.

3. Inferences are self-explanatory. It tells you why. (If you have a statement which looks like an inference and you form a why question on it, you should be able to get an answer. If you dont, it will become a Judgement.)

4. An inference is an opinion that doesnt change according to perspective.

5. If the set of sentences given to you are connected, you can only do UPLINKING to decide that a statement as an inference. Meaning You should have the facts preceeding this statement. If the facts are provided as the next statements it cannot be an inference. It will be a judgement. Ex: A. X is a good student when it comes to attendance. B. X attends college regularly. In this example, statement A is a judgement, statement B is a fact. If you change the order like below A. X attends college regularly. B. X is a good student when it comes to attendance. In this case A is a fact and B is an inference.

6. One fact can lead to multiple inferences.

7. Inference will have verbal bridges with facts ( words like leads to, points to, indicates, shows, explains, expresses)

8. A cause and effect relation ship can be termed as an inference.

9. A statement backed up by an example in the same sentence will be an inference. 

JUDGEMENTS: 1. Any statement that could lead to an approval or disapproval.

2. It is the authors personal opinion.

3. It is open to challenge.

4. It doesnt tell you why. ( see point 3 of inference for clarity) 5. It changes according to perspective.

A fact or an inference or a judgement will be as per the above mentioned rules but it is not mandatory that each satisfies all the conditions.

1053

A few good videos for verbal - all in one place

http://www.discussionleaders.com/6536/cat-prep-verbal-ability

1054

RC of the day! The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Okay, I'm getting tired of it now. If 'A Lion Among Men' were the second book in "The Wicked Years," I would have probably liked it as much as I liked the actual second book in "The Wicked Years." It's a similar formula: take a not-terribly-sympathetic minor character and flesh him out in context. It's the Cowardly Lion's backstory this time. We saw Brrr (did Baum name him that?) in a couple of brief cameos in Wicked, and now it's an illumination of the life lived in between being a motherless cub and a surprised, chuckedaside adult member of the Dorothy team, as well as some events after. More engagingly, Maguire also fleshes out several of the bizarre bit players that have been circling the margins of the story till now.

And really, more of this and less of that, please. It starts off well, with a heretofore rare Yackle point of view, a scene from the scarred eyes of the old bat that's been pestering the characters with prophetic catcalls for a couple of books now. She demands her fellow nuns to lower her into the crypt, to hasten the end of the burden of her life and sweep her out after a year. The suicide is a near-comical, near-chilling failure. Deliciously macabre, ("wicked"), which is not my go-to place for entertainment, but a hell of an entrance in this case. The other secondary characters are almost this good too, but soon enough we're with the Lion again, and his personal history gets the, ....Lion's share of print. Some new folds in the character are revealed, and it wasn't badly done, but it more colored in the outline of his character than expanded it. And it costs us readers 200 pages of retreading old backstory, even while the author is telegraphing a larger plot and doing nothing about it. Now that these Oz books are a committed series instead of an entertainingly revisionist standalone, now that it's a story arc in other words, there's an entirely different pacing at play. Or maybe it was all fine, and it was just too soon to get back in.

The history of the Cowardly Cub picks up after his escape from the University lab, and he finds himself in the wilderness, subsisting without meat, and, Frankenstein-like, without language. He picks up the art of words by spying on humans, and boy, he's quick with that. The author isn't about to let inexperience get in the way of a few good puns or a little witty banter. Like Shelley's creature, or like old Quasimodo, the young Lion craves acceptance, and commits love straightaway, which, due to his disconnectedness from the world, has brutish results. Neither does he fit in with Oz's disenfranchised talking Animals, and his life flits between the spheres, from an uncomfortable society Animal, to an uncomfortable outcast. Poor Brrr isn't quite as likable as he might be. He has a tendency for vanity, self-absorption and conflict-avoidance, but it's clear they'd have only ever been venial sins were he not pushed around by circumstances. The tragedies aren't so much that people suffer for his failures to act, but rather that he keeps ending up in situations where his inaction matters. A hard thing to illustrate.


1. Which of the following is not used by the author as a justification or reason why the novel 'A lion among men' becomes boring or less interesting for him?

(a) The fact that the books of the "The Wicked Years" fall into a series which is maintained in a committed fashion instead of creating something entirely new.

(b) The author builds a larger plot which could have been developed well instead of the lion "Brr's" backstory.

(c) The new aspects in the personal history of the lion do not add anything significant to the depth of the lion's character.

(d) The lion "Brr.." is a character with brief cameos in earlier novels, who has been made the "major character" in the present novel. Page


2. All of the following can be inferred from the passage except:

1. Brr feels like an outcast basically due to his being a motherless cub.

2. People do not suffer when Brr fails to act, but at the same time Brr keeps ending up in situations where his actions have adverse consequences.

3. The lion receives exaggerated importance to the detriment of secondary characters.

4. Brr's tendency for vanity, self-absorption and conflict avoidance would not have been a sin had he not been pushed around by circumstances.

(a) 1 and 2

(b) 2 and 3

(c) 1 and 3

(d) 1, 3 and 4


3. Which of the following is NOT a part of the story in the novel "A lion among men" according to the author?

(a) A suicide attempt which gives a gruesome yet humorous feel.

(b) Humour brought out in spite of constraints.

(c) A readily likeable protagonist who evokes immediate sympathy due to his being an outcast.

(d) A protagonist who is surprisingly quick to acquire linguistic skills despite his circumstances. 

1055

The cultivation of the emotion of natsukashii, interpretable as "pleasant sorrow," brings Japanese to Kyoto in the spring, not to _______ the cherry blossoms in full bloom but to _______ the fading, falling flowers.      

  • describe …rejoice over
  • honor …protect
  • arrange …preserve
  • savor … grieve over
  • mourn …exclaim over

0 voters