Verbal Reasoning(Exams > Cat > Verbal ) Questions and answers for exam Preparation

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VERBAL REASONING MCQs

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Question 41. The number of people diagnosed as having a certain intestinal disease has dropped significantly in a rural county this year, as compared to last year. Health officials attribute this decrease entirely to improved sanitary conditions at water-treatment plants, which made for cleaner water this year and thus reduced the incidence of the disease.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the health official’s explanation for the lower incidence of the disease?

Many new water-treatment plants have been built in the last five years in the rural county.
Bottled spring water has not been consumed in significantly different quantities by people diagnosed as having the intestinal disease, as compared to people who did not contract the disease.
Because of a new diagnostic technique, many people who until this year would have been diagnosed as having the intestinal disease are now correctly diagnosed as suffering from intestinal ulcers.
Because of medical advances this year, far fewer people who contract the intestinal disease will develop severe cases of the disease.
The water in the rural county was brought up to the sanitary standards of the water in neighboring counties ten years ago.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option C. -> Because of a new diagnostic technique, many people who until this year would have been diagnosed as having the intestinal disease are now correctly diagnosed as suffering from intestinal ulcers.
:
C
Option (c)
The health official’s explanation assumes that the decrease in the number of people diagnosed with the disease accurately reflects a diminution in cases of the disease. By pointing out that this assumption is false, C undermines the official’s explanation and thus is the best answer. Since A supports the view that sanitary conditions have been improving, it tends to support the officials’ explanation. B also tends to support the officials’ explanation, because it eliminates a factor that might have differentiated between those contracting and those not contracting the disease and thus rules out an alternative explanation. The reduction of the severity of the diagnosed cases does not bear on the officials’ explanation. So D is not correct. Since the standards in neighboring counties might themselves have been inadequate, E does not weaken the officials’ explanation.

Question 42. The youngsters who are ravaging France realize that they do not have a future. That is why they are burning cars. Unemployment is high and concentrated amongst French minorities because of specific labour market institutions. France has strict hiring and firing regulation that make it costly to dismiss workers and thus reduce job creation.________________

Salaries cannot fall below a legislated minimum wage, which is so high that the least productive and least skilled workers remain shut out of the labour market
Those with a job are protected, those without one are hurt
Wages are set in centralized negotiation by monopolistic unions and apply throughout the economy.
The unions don’t care if the sons and daughters of immigrants living in ghettos have no opportunity of even starting a working life
In short, taking risks in childhood is necessary for children’s intellectual development.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option B. -> Those with a job are protected, those without one are hurt
:
B
option (b)The paragraph is about the current unrest in France and the reason for it. One reason is unemployment which is due to labour-market institutions. The paragraph ends with the strict hiring and firing regulations that France has, option (b) follows as a logical consequence of this policyoption (a) and (c) can be eliminated as they talk about salaries, when the focus is ‘unemployment’. Option (d) talks about a union, which does not exist in the paragraph question

Question 43. Eons ago the shrinking seas cast millions of unwilling aquatic creatures onto the newly created beaches. Deprived of their familiar environment, they died, gasping and clawing for each additional instant of eternity. Only a fortunate few, better suited to amphibian existence, survived the shock of change. Today, say sociologists, we are going through a period as traumatic as the evolution of man’s predecessors form sea creatures to land creatures.________________

Those who can adapt will, those who can’t will either go on surviving somehow at a lower level of development or will perish-washed up on the shores.
To assert that man must adapt seems superfluous – he has already shown himself to be among the most adaptable of life forms
When we hurl a man into space, we surround him with an exquisitely designed micro environment that maintains all the factors within liveable limits
It is strange that when we hurl a man into the future, we take few pains to protect him from the shock of change
In short, taking risks in childhood is necessary for children’s intellectual development.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option A. -> Those who can adapt will, those who can’t will either go on surviving somehow at a lower level of development or will perish-washed up on the shores.
:
A
option (a)The paragraph stresses on the need to adapt by drawing an analogy with the evolution of life. Hence, option (a) that states that ‘only those who adapt themselves, will survive’ is the right conclusion. Option (b) goes against the idea in the paragraph. Option (c) and (d) talk about ‘space’ which is not touched upon in the paragraph question

Question 44. If there is an oil-supply disruption resulting in higher international oil prices, domestic oil prices in open-market countries such as the United States will rise as well, whether such countries import all or none of their oil. Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the statement in the passage?

Domestic producers of oil in open-market countries are excluded from the international oil market when there is a disruption in the international oil supply.
International oil-supply disruptions have little, if any, effect on the price of domestic oil as long as an open-market country has domestic supplies capable of meeting domestic demand.
The oil market in an open-market country is actually part of the international oil market, even if most of that country’s domestic oil is usually sold to consumers within its borders.
Open-market countries that export little or none of their oil can maintain stable domestic oil prices even when international oil prices rise sharply.
If international oil prices rise, domestic distributors of oil in open-market countries will begin to import more oil than they export.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option C. -> The oil market in an open-market country is actually part of the international oil market, even if most of that country’s domestic oil is usually sold to consumers within its borders.
:
C
Option (c)
If the oil market in an open-market country were independent, fluctuations in international oil prices would not affect domestic oil prices. However, if the statement about oil-supply disruption is true, it is evident that domestic oil prices are dependent on the international market and hence that the domestic oil market is a part of the international oil market. Therefore, C is the best answer. B and D are not supported, since each contradicts the claim that an international oil-supply disruption will lead to rising oil prices in an open-market nation. Nor are A and E supported, since the statement provides information only about the effect of disruption on oil prices, not domestic producers or distributors.

Question 45. The audiences for crosswords and sudoku, understandably, overlap greatly, but there are differences, too. A crossword attracts a more literary person, while sudoku appeals to a keenly logical mind. Some crossword enthusiasts turn up their noses at sudoku because they feel it lacks depth. A good crossword requires vocabulary, knowledge, mental flexibility and sometimes even a sense of humor to complete. It touches numerous areas of life and provides an "Aha!" or two along the way._______________________________

Sudoku, on the other hand, is just a logical exercise, each one similar to the last.
Sudoku, incidentally, is growing faster in popularity than crosswords, even among the literati.
Sudoku, on the other hand, can be attempted and enjoyed even by children
Sudoku, however, is not exciting in any sense of the term.
In short, taking risks in childhood is necessary for children’s intellectual development.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option A. -> Sudoku, on the other hand, is just a logical exercise, each one similar to the last.
:
A
Option(b) gets eliminated because of the idea of ‘popularity’ in it. This is a new idea and will require some reader intervention to support it. Reader intervention is not required in the last sentence of a paragraph.Option(c) gets eliminated because of ‘even by children’- we need to assume that children lack ‘vocabulary etc. etc. mentioned in the paragraph.Option(d) contradicts the paragraph. The paragraph says it appeals to a logical mind.Option(a) effortlessly closes the paragraph. The comparison between Crossword and Sudoku is completed and the purpose of the paragraph is fulfilled.Hence, the correct answer is option (a).

Question 46. How does the media of today working with the most sophisticated electronic equipment compare with the past? How can they be worse when events today are portrayed in “real time?” Both the press and televised news have been guilty of many sins. In spite of all the great advances in the technology of communications, what unites them over more than a hundred years has been the “rush to judgment” in order to out-scoop rivals. Newspaper journalists could always excuse the need to meet deadlines with the explanation that it was not possible to wait and find confirmation in the field because they lacked the technical “eyes and ears” of information gathering that would allow them to check the validity of their sources.__________________________________________

An examination of several historical examples will clarify the difference.
The reporters of today’s televised news are of a different order.
They have been raised on appreciating visual images as “reality” with the fill-in provided by a reporter.
Unlike the previous generations of newspaper readers, they do not dispose of the same leisure time to wade carefully through follow-up reporting.
They knew however that the readers would expect follow-up reporting to verify and interpret events with careful research and analysis.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option E. -> They knew however that the readers would expect follow-up reporting to verify and interpret events with careful research and analysis.
:
E
Option (e)
Option (e) continues in the same breath as the passage.It moves the discussion forward, talking aboutthe newspaper journalists - hence continuing or extending the idea.

Question 47. The best thing for children is for them to be given more freedom - not to do whatever they want, of course; they need clear boundaries set by parents. But unsupervised play isn’t just some kind of childhood luxury that kids can do without. It is vital for children’s healthy emotional and social development. Study after study has shown that it helps to develop children’s ability to negotiate social rules and to create their own rules. Children need to learn to deal with risks and develop the capacity to assess challenges, and develop resilience to life’s inevitable blows. ___________________.

In short, taking risks in childhood should not be discouraged.
In short, taking risks in childhood can have unexpected consequences.
In short, taking risks in childhood goes hand-in hand with developing new skills.
In short, taking risks in childhood is necessary for children’s physical development.
In short, taking risks in childhood is necessary for children’s intellectual development.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option C. -> In short, taking risks in childhood goes hand-in hand with developing new skills.
:
C
Option (c)Both options [d] and [e] can be dismissed immediately, as the author mentions only children’s emotional and social development, not their physical or intellectual development. [b] is very vague, and does not really connect to the topic of the passage. The author stridently argues that children should be free to take risks, so [a] would be a rather weak conclusion. [c] is much more preferable conclusion, as it clearly summarizes the author’s entire argument.

Question 48. _________________. When a new mutation arises, the total population consists of one group with a single mutant and many groups with no mutants. There is not much variation among groups in this scenario for group selection to act upon. Now imagine a species that has the ability to socially transmit information. A new cultural mutation can rapidly spread to everyone in the same group, resulting in one group that is very different from the other groups in the total population.

It is time now to understand the enigmatic aspect of the human condition.
A culture can radically shift the balance between levels of selection in favour of group selection.
Hypothesis testing does not always require quantification.
Consider genetic evolution by itself.
The balance between levels of selection is not fixed but can itself evolve.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option D. -> Consider genetic evolution by itself.
:
D
Option (d)The passage specifically relates to the whole idea of ‘mutation’ or ‘genetic evolution’. [a] isbeyond the purview of the passage because ‘human condition’ comprises many elements other than ‘genetic evolution’. [c] is a general statement and does not particularly relate to the subsequent discussion; hence it can be negated immediately. [b] would make a better conclusion than an introduction for the passage, as the passage begins on a general note and then goes on to discuss the idea of cultural mutation. Though in this passage we are discussing different levels of selection, the balance between the levels is not the focus, so [e] is wrong. The first sentence of a paragraph should broadly state what the passage would go on to discuss.Only [d] states the main topic and can aptly start the paragraph.

Question 49. The average normal infant born in the United States weighs between twelve and fourteen pounds at the age of three months. Therefore, if a three-month-old child weighs only ten pounds, its weight gain has been below the United States average.
Which of the following indicates a flaw in the reasoning above?

Weight is only one measure of normal infant development.
Some three-month-old children weigh as much as seventeen pounds.
It is possible for a normal child to weigh ten pounds at birth.
The phrase “below average” does not necessarily mean insufficient.
Average weight gain is not the same as average weight.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option E. -> Average weight gain is not the same as average weight.
:
E
Option (e)The evidence on which the conclusion is based concerns only average weight, but the conclusion concerns average weight gain. Because there is not necessarily a connection between an absolute measurement-such as weight-and a rate of increase-such as weight gain-this argument is flawed. The relevant reasoning error is described in E, which is the best answer. Neither of A and D identifies a reasoning error in the passage, since the passage makes no claim that weight is the only relevant measure of infant development in general, and no claim about sufficiency. B and C are consistent with the claims in the passage, and neither identifies a flaw in the argument.

Question 50. Rare is the artist who can suffuse his work with so much ambiguity and still intrigue. The known career of Stanley Kubrick encompasses an acknowledged AC movie features, one withdrawn movie feature, several short documentaries, and a myriad number of photo spreads. Controversy surrounded many of these projects. On a surface level, Kubrick seemed willing to alienate the audience for his desired effects. Yet the constant control and manipulation of all things surrounding his work also freed it up to interpretation. One knows, for the most part, that one is watching a Kubrick movie – its authorship is clear. _______________________.

Our speculation is further encouraged by Kubrick’s secrecy surrounding both his life and his film projects – a state of control that remains fairly unparalleled among most popular artists.
Easy speculation follows the interpretation, but it is more of a challenge to dig beneath the popular veneer and debate the actual man and his deeper meanings
His is a career shrouded in myth and frustrating mystery
Yet we must persevere and try to understand what little we can of this particular artist’s story, even though it may demand a precision and incisiveness that no single writing can attain.
It may not be entirely correct to call Kubrick a child prodigy

Discuss Question

Answer: Option B. -> Easy speculation follows the interpretation, but it is more of a challenge to dig beneath the popular veneer and debate the actual man and his deeper meanings
:
B
Option (b)
The paragraph has spoken about what happens on a surface level. So, logically, digging below the surface would follow. Also, the paragraph ends with ‘interpretation’ and ‘watching Kubrick’s movie’. Option (b) extends this with what happens next - ‘speculation’ following ‘interpretation’. (a) abruptly jumps to the first person. (c), (d) and (e) talk about ‘Kubrick’ himself – but do not extend the idea effectively at the end of the paragraph.