CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Explanations

CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 25:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph.

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.

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 very1 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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 26:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph.

Both Socrates and Bacon were very good at asking useful questions. In fact, Socrates is largely credited with corning 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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 27:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph.

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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 28:

DIRECTIONS for the question: The five sentences (labelled 1,2,3,4, and 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentence 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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 29:

DIRECTIONS for the question: The five sentences (labelled 1,2,3,4, and 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentence 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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 30:

DIRECTION for the question: The six sentences (labelled 1,2,3,4,5 and 6) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentence and key in this sequence of six 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.

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CAT 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 32:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key it in.

1. 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 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 33:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key it in.

1. 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 17 Verbal Ability Slot 2 Question 34:

DIRECTIONS for the question: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out. Choose its number as your answer and key it in.

1. 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 Comm Bank logo has more to it than meets the eye, as squirrelled away in that diamond is the Southern Cross constellation.

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