CLAT 2017 Question Paper With Answers & Explanation
VARC
Question Numbers (1 to 6) : The passage below is
accompanied by a set of six questions. Choose the best
answer to each question.
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 geniuses. 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-thebox
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.
Q. 1 In the author’s view, cities promote human creativity
for all the following reasons EXCEPT that they
Option 4 is the correct answer as in paragraph 2
of the given passage, where the author talks about
the promotion of creativity in cities, he does not
mention that cities provide access to cultural
activities. This is nowhere stated in the passage.
Q. 2 The author uses ‘ironic’ in the third paragraph to
point out that
Option 2 is the correct answer as in paragraphs 3
and 4 of passage it is presented that organizations
that were supposed to foster creativity, actually
stifle it.
Option 1 is the correct answer as the entire
passage revolves around the idea how cities help
in flourishing of creativity. The author describes
the importance of social interaction and how the
lack of it, spoils creativity. Option 2 is ruled out
because the author explicitly states that “creativity
itself is not in danger”. Option 3 is incorrect since
it is discussed only in the last 2 paragraphs. Option
4 is too generic. It can’t be the main idea.
Q. 4 Jane Jacobs believed that cities that are more
creative
Option 3 is the correct answer as from paragraph
5 it can be easily inferred that Jane Jacobs holds
leaders responsible for promoting creativity in
people and cities.
Option 2 is the correct answer as after talking about
what stifles creativity (in paragraph 3), the author
presents the 1968 report( in order to validate the
previous point). Option 1 states exactly the opposite
of what is stated in the passage. Option 3 is incorrect
because the reduction of creativity cannot be
attributed to learning more. Option 4 is unrelated.
The passage does not talk about technology.
However, the second option is only the best option.
“Schools today” makes it a dicey option.
Q. 6 The author’s conclusions about the most ‘creative
cities’ in the US (paragraph 6) are based on his
assumption that
In the 2nd last paragraph of the passage, it is stated
that the creativity of only those people can be
utilized who use their minds to work. This implies
that people who work with their hands are not
creative. Hence, option 1 is the correct answer.
Questions Numbers (7 to 12) : The passage below is
accompanied by a set of six questions. Choose the best
answer to each question.
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 1970. 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 aboveground
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.
Option 3 is the correct answer as the entire
passage presents the effects of climate change
on Subnivium. This rules out options 1 and 2 that
keep Subnivium (and not the effects of climate
change on it) as the point of focus. Option 4 is
used as an example only in the first paragraph of
the passage and therefore it can’t be the purpose
of the passage.
Q. 8 All of the following statements are true EXCEPT
Option 2 is the correct answer as the entire
passage does not mention even a single positive
effect of climate change on the Subnivium. Though
one may infer that there may be some hints of
positive impact, the overall effect is not positive.
All other options are stated in the passage.
Q. 9 Based on this extract, the author would support
which one of the following actions?
All options 1, 3 and 4 address the symptoms of
climate change. They fail to attack the main cause,
let alone providing a solution to that cause. Option
2 addresses the cause and even provides a
solution to the issue of climate change. Hence it
is the correct answer.
Q. 10 In paragraph 6, the author provides the examples
of crowberry and alpine azalea to demonstrate that
Options 1 and 3 are too generic. Option 2 is
incorrect because such information has not been
provided. In the last paragraph of the passage it is
stated that the effects of colder Subnivium are
interrelated and multilayered. This has been
substantiated through the example of shrubs.
Therefore, option 4 is the correct answer.
Q. 11 Which one of the following statements can be
inferred from the passage?
Option 1 is correct as the entire passage is about
how the effects of climate change are interrelated.
Options 2, 3 and 4 are incorrect because the
passage does not give us enough information to
claim them.
Q. 12 In paragraph 1, the author uses blankets as a device to
Clearly, option 3 is the correct answer as the
passage uses the example of blankets to draw an
analogy. First it is shown that having spaces
between the layers of a blanket increases the
insulating property. Next, using the same logic, the
effects of increase in snow density is explained.
Questions Numbers (13 to 18):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 self-fulfilment. 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 serve 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 Ubem.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.
Q. 13 Which of the following statements best reflects the
author’s argument?
Options 1 and 3 are ruled out since they are stated
in paragraph 3. Option 2 is stated towards the end
of paragraph Option 4 cannot be inferred
from anywhere in the passage. Hence, it is correct
answer.
Q. 15 According to the author, the main reason for Tesla’s
remarkable sales is that
Option 4 is the correct answer and can be inferred
from paragraph Options 1 and 2 cannot be
inferred from anywhere in the passage. Option 3
is incorrect because this distorted information
about charging stations is not there in the passage.
Towards the end of the passage, the author states
that though car drivers want autonomy, public
transport will be the future as this is the only
solution to traffic problem. This makes option 3
correct. Options 1 and 4 are beyond the scope of
the passage. Option 2 is ambiguous.
Q. 17 In paragraphs 5 and 6, the author provides the
example of Uber to argue that
Option 4 is ruled out since the passage does not
compare the sales of Uber and Tesla. Option 2 is
incorrect since this cannot be determined. Option
1 is beyond the passage’s scope. Option 3 is
correct as it is clearly demonstrated in paragraphs
5 and 6- private cars will operate as taxis so that
one can use them in the hour of need. And this is
the future towards which Uber is working.
Q. 18 In paragraph 6, the author mentions electrically
powered bicycles to argue that
Option 2 is stated in the last paragraph of the
passage, where we are told that traffic jams will
not exist if personal cars become public utility
products. And the only way one can get autonomy
is through the use of bicycle. Option 1 is not stated
in the passage. The comparison drawn between
electric powered bicycle and electrics is not in the
passage. Hence, option 3 is ruled out. Option 4 is
a personal judgment, which is nowhere in the
passage.
Question Numbers (19 to 21) : 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 welldefined
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!
Q. 19 Which one of the following best describes what the
passage is trying to do?
Option 1 is the correct answer as the author
provides examples of the US and Russia to tell
that these countries have taken up the use of
typewriter. The author also supports their using of
typewriters by providing us with positive aspects
of the typewriters. Option 2 is beyond the scope
of the passage. Option 3 is incorrect since clearly
it is not the main aim of the passage. There is no
hint to make that claim. Option 4 is incorrect since
this difference has nowhere been made.
Q. 20 According to the passage, some governments still
use typewriters because:
“Type a document and lock it away and more or
less the only way anyone else can get……….
some departments have never abandoned them”.
This information, which says that using of
typewriters helps one control who views the
document, makes option 4 correct.
Q. 21 The writer praises typewriters for all the following
reasons EXCEPT
Towards the end of the passage, it is written- “Nor
are there any easy distractions.” – i.e that
typewriters can be used only for one single thingwriting.
Hence 1 is stated in the passage and is
therefore not the answer. It is also stated- “there’s
a big premium on hitting the right key.” This means
that once something has been typed, it cannot be
revised. Hence option 2 is also stated. It is also
stated- “….encouraging clack of keys”. This is
associated with typewriters making more noise
than computers. Hence option 3 is also stated.
Nothing in the passage points towards option 4.
Therefore, it is the correct answer.
Question Numbers (22 to 24) : 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 Live Science. 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 1066.) 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 well. It’s
possible that the antler combs represent a larger trade
network, where the Norsemen supplied raw material to craftsmen in Denmark and elsewhere.
The main aim of the author appears to dismiss
the popular believe that Vikings were pillagers. The
passage revolves around the idea that Vikings
started out as traders. This makes option 3 correct.
Option 1 is ruled out because the example of
combs has been used only as an illustration.
Option 4 is incorrect because the passage
discusses a period before Vikings turned into
pillagers. Option 2 is beyond the scope of the
passage.
Q. 23 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:
Option 4 is the correct answer. The author states
that the age of Viking started in 793 and extended
till the Norman conquest of Great Britain in 1066.
This means that Vikings had trade relations with
Britain before the Viking age.
Q. 24 All of the following hold true for Vikings EXCEPT
In the passage it is stated that Vikings only brought
the combs from Norway to Denmark. Hence option
1 cannot be concluded from the passage, making
it the correct answer.
Q. 25 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
specialised holes in their sides. The whistles are
impressively loud - they have been measured at over
SO dB from 5 cm away from the caterpillar -
considering they are made by a two-inch long insect.
(1) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars
will whistle periodically to ward off predator birds
- they have a specialized vocal tract that helps
them whistle.
(2) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars
can whistle very loudly; the loudness of their
whistles is shocking as they are very small
insects.
(3) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars,
in a case of acoustic deception, produce whistles
that mimic bird alarm calls to defend themselves.
(4) North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars,
in a case of deception and camouflage, produce
whistles that mimic bird alarm calls to defend
themselves.
According to the given paragraph the North
American walnut sphinx moth caterpillar often
whistles which is very loud in nature. The birds
often mimic these whistles by which they
understand the location of these prey birds and
they get time to take cover. Option 1 is incorrect
since it talks about vocal tracks, which is out of
scope. Option 2 is partially correct since it does
not talk about the correct use of the whistling.
Option 4 uses the word ‘camouflage’ which is also
beyond the scope of the given context. Option 3
describes the passage correctly and accurately.
Q. 26 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.
(1) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated clever
questioning of the opponents to disprove their
arguments and theories.
(2) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated challenging
arguments and theories by observation and
experimentation.
(3) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated confirming
arguments and theories by finding exceptions.
(4) Both Socrates and Bacon advocated examining
arguments and theories from both sides to prove
them.
According to the given paragraph, both Socrates
and Bacon stressed on arguments from both ends,
that is, to prove as well as disprove. To both, it
was important to disprove a theory as is to prove it
when it came to asking questions. Option 1 is
incorrect since it only talks about disapproving
arguments. Option 2 is beyond the scope of the
context since it fails to capture the main theme of
the passage. Option 3 is partially correct, since it
only talks about confirming an argument and not
the other way. Option 4 is the only correct answer.
Q. 27 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.
(1) Dictionary definitions are like 'gold standards' -
artificial, theoretical and dogmatic. Actual
meaning of words is their free-exchange value.
(2) Language is already slippery; given this,
accounting for ‘meaning in use’ will only
exasperate the problem. That is why
lexicographers ‘fix’ meanings.
(3) 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.
(4) 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.
The passage talks about the importance o0f
meaning which is dynamic in nature whereas
definitions are dynamic. Definitions are extracted
from the meanings and not the other way round.
Hence 3 is the correct option here. Option A is
incorrect since it talks about the dogmatic nature
of meaning. Option 2 is also incorrect factually.
Option D is beyond the scope of the given context.
Q. 28 The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in
this question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with
a number. Decide on the proper order for the
sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers
as your answer.
(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.
2 is the opening sentence of the paragraph which
introduces the topic ‘The stories we tell reflect the world
around us’. follows 2, which further justifies the above
mentioned statement. It is followed by 3 which tells us
that we often retell the stories which we value. and 1
form a mandatory pair justifying sentence 3.
Q. 29 The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in
this question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with
a number. Decide on the proper order for the
sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers
as your answer.
(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.
The paragraph begins with sentence 5 talking
about the goodness of lightning. It is followed by 3
which discusses the useful nature of lightning,
helping Nitrogen to react. It is further followed by
4 which in continuation with 3 introduces the need
of Nitrogen for plants. and 1 form a mandatory
pair as they go on discussing the process by which
Nitrogen reacts and help the plants.
Q. 30 The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in
this question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with
a number. Decide on the proper order for the
sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers
as your answer.
(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.
Sentence 2 introduces the topic defining the
placebo effect. It is sequentially followed by 5 which
showcases the study of this effect. and 3 form a
mandatory pair discussing in details how this
placebo effect works. The paragraph ends with 1
which showcases the implications this placebo
effec6t has in the health care system.
Q. 31 The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in
this question, when properly sequenced, form a
coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with
a number. Decide on the proper order for the
sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers
as your answer.
(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.
This is an impossible to attempt question. Due to
lack of any key words in the sentences, one can
come to multiple possible arrangements. Hence, one
should have left this question. Only 3 and 5 make a
mandatory pair. As 5 is the explanation of 3.
Q. 32 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) 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 realising 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.
The sentences if arranged sequentially form a
coherent paragraph on the importance of
communication of which speech is an integral part.
Leaving aside the 2nd sentence all of them talk
on this topic. although may seem correct but
actually it is farfetched (“achieve our goals and
bring our dreams to fruition”) as far as the context
of the given paragraph is concerned.
Q. 33 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) 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.
The jumbled paragraph if arranged sequentially,
IT talks about Federer achieving greatness in spite
of his age. He is the oldest tennis player to win a
singles title. But, option 4 is an anomaly. It talks
about some ongoing tournament, which Federer
may be a part of. However, even the third sentence
can be the odd one out as it talks about a very
specific technique of Federer.
Q. 34 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) 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.
This is a wrong answer. The correct answer should
have been. The entire paragraph talks about
subtlety. The second sentence talks about
something else.