IIFT 23 Dec 2021 VARC | Previous Year IIFT Paper
From the sentences below, identify where comma(s) is/are missing and/orinappropriately used grammatically:
A. Don’t guess. Use a timer or watch.
B. Don’t guess, use a timer or watch.
C. The driver managed to escape from the vehicle before it sank and swam to the river-bank.
D. The driver managed to escape from the vehicle before it sank, and swam to the river-bank.
- A.
B, C are incorrect
- B.
B, D are incorrect
- C.
A, C are incorrect
- D.
Only B is incorrect
Solution
Discuss
ReportComplete the following Idioms by matching List I with List II
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
A - II, B - III, C - I, D - IV
- B.
A - III, B - IV, C - II, D - I
- C.
A - I, B - II, C - III, D - IV
- D.
A - II, B - IV, C - I, D - III
From the sentences below, identify where comma(s) is/are missing and/orinappropriately used grammatically:
A. The convict said the judge “is mad”.
B. The convict, said the judge, is mad.
C. Leonara walked on her head, a little higher than usual.
D. Leonara walked on, her head a little higher than usual.
- A.
B, D are incorrect
- B.
A, C are incorrect
- C.
A, D are incorrect
- D.
Only A is incorrect
Match List-I with List-II
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
I-V, B-VI, H-VII, C-VIII
- B.
E-VI, H-VII, D-VIII, B-IX
- C.
I-V, H-VII, E-VIII, F-IX
- D.
H-VI, E-VII, I-VIII, B-IX
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
H-I, F-II, B-III, C-IV
- B.
C-II, F-III, A-IV, D-V
- C.
B-III, A-IV, E-V, C-VI
- D.
G-I, C-II, F-III, E-IV
There are four sentences A, B, C, D where the underlined word is used either correctly or incorrectly. Choose the option which lists all the sentences where the underlined word is used correctly in a sentence.
A. This person needs the counsel of a psychiatrist.
B. I'm a scientist and if I don't know an answer, I seek counsel from sharper brains.
C. Each of the brothers on the counsel was gifted in some way.
D. A similar counsel of moderation was given to the Canadian press in connexion with the Manitoba school question in December 1897.
- A.
Only A and C are correct
- B.
A, B and D are correct
- C.
Only C and D are correct
- D.
Only B and D are correct
A little change or alteration in usage of the article/helping verb may change meaningof a sentence. Below given are the sentences along with their meanings; identify the expressions with thecorrect meaning and choose the right option:
I. The jury was - the members of the jury taken individually
II. The jury were - the members of the jury taken as a whole
III. Dead in sin - great sinner
IV. Dead to sin - free from sin
- A.
Only I and II are correct
- B.
Only II and III are correct
- C.
Only I and IV are correct
- D.
Only III and IV are correct
Select the option with the incorrect spelling:
- A.
Chicanery
- B.
Modicum
- C.
Exculpate
- D.
Faxcile
Identify the option with the Incorrect usage of an apostrophe:
- A.
It's got very cold outside
- B.
Who's book is this?
- C.
Jesus' disciples
- D.
It needn't be a pane
Fill in the blank with appropriate preposition:
The birds alight ____ the roof of a temple.
- A.
with
- B.
for
- C.
at
- D.
on
From the options given below, identify best SYNONYMN for the word underlined:
While automatic enrollment or "quick" enrollment makes the process of joining a retirement plan less daunting, expanding the number of funds available to participants can have the opposite effect.
- A.
Trivial
- B.
Inviting
- C.
Heartening
- D.
Consternate
Fill in the blank with appropriate preposition:
I have a great antipathy ____ meat.
- A.
against
- B.
to
- C.
on
- D.
over
Select the option with the incorrect spelling:
- A.
Caboose
- B.
Mercenary
- C.
Lugbrious
- D.
Puritanical
From the options given below, identify best SYNONYMN for the word underlined:
According to Douglas Brinkley's Wheels for the World, Henry authorized $1.5 million in company funds foran inquiry of Lee's professional and private life in 1975 to discredit him.
- A.
Calumniate
- B.
Ameliorate
- C.
Castigate
- D.
Delineate
There are four sentences A, B, C, D where the underlined word is used either correctly or incorrectly. Choose the option which lists all the sentences where the underlined word is used correctly in a sentence.
A. Cassie drew her brows down to feign a stern expression.
B. Her heartbeat was feign and slow.
C. I wish you wouldn't feign illness on every first day of school.
D. My cousin would always feign excitement when we came to visit, but I knew she really didn't like sharing her room.
- A.
Only B and D are correct
- B.
Only A and D are correct
- C.
Only C and D are correct
- D.
A, C and D are correct
Read the passage and answer the questions.
Passage I
Qualitative research methods are often mischaracterized by advocates, users, and critics alike because toooften the reflexive, iterative, and flexible methods are misunderstood as 'just making do.' There is a goodpragmatic tradition of "making do," from Dewey to the present, that describes the necessities as well asvirtues of using what situations provide in their immediacy as the grounds of social action. While qualitativeresearch certainly shares some of this pragmatic bricolage, good research, qualitative as well asquantitative, is designed as well as improvised. One of the merits of qualitative research is its particularopenness to serendipitous invention; one of its failures, however, has been an unwillingness, or inability, onthe part of its practitioners, until recently, to specify how that openness to 'what situations make available'can be both systematic and creative.
Over the years I have probably reviewed hundreds of research proposals; too large a number of theseclaimed that because the researcher was doing a qualitative study, the kinds of data and forms of collectioncould not be specified in advance. I was always a bit embarrassed by this, feeling let down by my side. Itsometimes seemed as if our teaching of qualitative research was creating a mystical religion, a set of ourown unexamined fetishes just at the moment we set about to identify others' taken for grantedassumptions and social meanings. In this vein, some years ago I heard a colleague advise a student goingout to do field work for the first time "to be like a blank slate," "just tell me everything you see and hear,write it all down." The student was completely baffled and clearly at a loss about what to do, to do first, orsecond, or how to begin. What would constitute telling me all you see and hear. Importantly, the studenthad read a lot of sociology, and knew a lot about signs and signifiers, latent as well as manifest patterns insocial relations. She knew that competent social actors are not blank slates. She felt incompetent but notentirely blank. She had a project, after all.
It seemed from the proposals I read and the conversations I observed that we, qualitative sociologists,believed that we could not specify what we were going to do (i.e. lay out a design and plan of theresearch), because that would mean that we would have -- by that naming -- necessarily circumscribedwhat we would do. Having supposedly controlled a priori what we would do, we would be unable to dosomething else along the way, as the situations and insights invited. We would have lost the distinctivevirtues of qualitative research. Somehow, in this mysticism about qualitative methods, research designsseemed to be understood as enforceable contracts or sets of machine instructions; any deviation from thedesign was understood to be either impossible, a failure, or a mistake. Qualitative research was celebratedfor its flexibility, the temporal coincidence of collection and analysis and thus prior design was, bydefinition, a threat to qualitative research.
Of course, I have overstated the issue but we were asked to provide fodder for discussion. And, to someextent, this overstatement puts the issue in a bold form. Why should qualitative research be any less welldesigned (or specified) than quantitative research? When I think about the steps in different methods, itoccurs to me that most of what gets put into a research design, let us say for a survey project orquantitative research, could also be put in the design for an ethnography or a project of in-depth-interviewing and narrative analysis. The major differences lie in the fact that qualitative projects (1) will notrely on statistical analyses and therefore do not need to produce probability samples and standardizedcollection instruments at the same temporal pace and placement in the research process. As a consequenceof temporal pace and sequencing, qualitative projects (2) will be able to adjust the forms of data, modesand cites of collection in response to the ongoing processes of analysis and interpretation. This is certainlyso. I suspect, however, that the resistance to detailed research qualitative research designs derives less,however, from emphasis on these key differences than from an overly idealized or reified view of how otherforms of research proceed, whether quantitative sociology or chemistry or biology. That is, all researchdevelops (is in the making and rethinking) throughout the stages of design, collection, and analysis. Almostall research produces much that was unanticipated and therefore had to be responded to with adjustmentsalong the way. The central difference lies in the explicit weight of recognition of and preparation for thisprocess of adjustment in most qualitative projects. Nothing precludes a preliminary design that sets theresearcher on a path that is understood as a first approximation of the work process.
I should say before going much further that there are varieties of qualitative research and my remarks willnot appropriately characterize all. For the moment, I am referring primarily to ethnographic fieldwork (i.e.research study looking at the social interaction of users in a given environment), participant observation,in-depth open ended interviewing, and other work involving interpretative qualitative analysis of documentsof various sorts. Thus, the mode of analysis rather than the type of data more appropriately describes workas qualitative. (The content of documents and interviews can be analysed quantitatively or qualitatively.Observations can be systematically structured and quantified but much observation is not, nor would beproductive.)
The goal of research is to produce results that can be falsifiable and in some way affirmable by rationalprocesses of actors other than the author. Most important is that the researcher provide an account of how the conclusions were reached, why the reader should believe the claims and how one might go about tryingto produce a similar account. What makes science morally, and rationally, compelling is that it is a publicenterprise. I am not referring to the funding or organizational supports. Rather, science is distinguished bythe claim to produce shared understanding/knowledge through modes that can be rationally andcollectively apprehended. In short, we have an obligation not to "hide the ball." To the extent that we do"hide the ball," we transform our science into rhetorical performance.
Which of the following is incorrect:
- A.
Participant observation and in-depth open ended interviewing can be analysed both qualitativelyand quantitatively but analysing observations using quantitative techniques wouldn't be as muchproductive.
- B.
The varieties of research that require interpretative qualitative analysis of data is what qualifies thework to be classified as qualitative.
- C.
Due to their reflexive, iterative, and flexible nature, the qualitative research methods should not bespecified in advance.
- D.
Controlling a priori what the researcher would do does not cause the distinctive virtues associatedwith qualitative research to be lost.
According to the passage, which of the following is incorrect about qualitative research design:
- A.
The only difference between qualitative and quantitative research is that the latter relies onstatistical analyses and therefore needs to produce probability samples and standardized collectioninstruments.
- B.
Because qualitative analysis does not rely on statistical analyses, it does not need to produceprobability samples and standardized collection instruments at the same temporal pace andplacement in the research process as quantitative research.
- C.
All research, including quantitative sociology or chemistry or biology develops throughout thestages of design, collection, and analysis and produces much that was unanticipated and thereforehas to be responded to with adjustments along the way, however, qualitative research requiresexplicit weight of recognition of and preparation for this process of adjustment.
- D.
While qualitative projects require a preliminary design similar to the other forms of research,however, the former requires an explicit weight of recognition of and preparation for this process of adjustment.
"The goal of research is ...... other than the author" (last para) from the passage can be best explained as:
- A.
A The goal of research is to produce results that are able to be proved to be false.
- B.
The goal of research is to produce outcomes that are able to be contradicted by evidence, and thatit is there for others to approve or disapprove that researcher's conclusions follow from thecollected/empirical data/observations.
- C.
Researchers should produce results that can be contradicted if the experimental observations cometo light that disprove the outcomes.
- D.
The goal of research is to arrive at the conclusions and make claims to knowledge through theapplication of science, i.e. the collection of facts.
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage:
- A.
Qualitative research that specifies a priori the design and plan of research can be both systematicand creative and requires application of science for producing a shared understanding.
- B.
Kinds of data and forms of collection for qualitative research could be very much specified inadvance.
- C.
Deviations from the design already laid out for qualitative research would be considered eitherimpossible, or a failure, or mistake because research designs once specified are understood asenforceable contracts.
- D.
Scientific qualitative research should make visible to others how researcher knows what he or she isclaiming to know.
Match List I with List I
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
A - iv, B - iii, C - i, D - ii
- B.
A - iii, B - ii, C - iv , D - i
- C.
A - ii, B - i, C - iii, D - iv
- D.
A - i, B - iv, C - ii, D - iii
Read the passage and answer the questions.
Passage II
Sociologist Matthews writes that Let's say someone writes an academic paper quoting fifty people who have worked on the subject and provided background materials for his study; assume, for the sake of simplicity, that all fifty are of equal merit. Another researcher working on the exact same subject will randomly citethree of those fifty in his bibliography. Merton showed that many academics cite references without havingread the original work; rather, they'll read a paper and draw their own citations from among its sources. So a third researcher reading the second article selects three of the previously referenced authors for his citations. These three authors will receive cumulatively more and more attention as their names becomeassociated more tightly with the subject at hand. The difference between the winning three and the othermembers of the original cohort is mostly luck: they were initially chosen not for their greater skill, butsimply for the way their names appeared in the prior bibliography. Thanks to their reputations, thesesuccessful academics will go on writing papers and their work will be easily accepted for publication. It iseasier for the rich to get richer, for the famous to become more famous. This theory can easily apply tocompanies, businessmen, actors, writers, and anyone else who benefits from past success.
During the 1940s, a Harvard linguist, George Zipf, examined the properties of language and came up withan empirical regularity now known as Zipf's law, which, of course, is not a law (and if it were, it would notbe Zipf's). It is just another way to think about the process of inequality. The mechanisms he describedwere as follows: the more you use a word, the less effortful you will find it to use that word again, so youborrow words from your private dictionary in proportion to their past use. This explains why out of the sixtythousand main words in English, only a few hundred constitute the bulk of what is used in writings, andeven fewer appear regularly in conversation. Likewise, the more people aggregate in a particular city, themore likely a stranger will be to pick that city as his destination. The big get bigger and the small staysmall, or get relatively smaller. A great illustration of preferential attachment can be seen in themushrooming use of English as a lingua franca—though not for its intrinsic qualities, but because peopleneed to use one single language, or stick to one as much as possible, when they are having a conversation.So whatever language appears to have the upper hand will suddenly draw people in droves; its usage willspread like an epidemic, and other languages will be rapidly dislodged. I am often amazed to listen toconversations between people from two neighboring countries, say, between a Turk and an Iranian, or aLebanese and a Cypriot, communicating in bad English, moving their hands for emphasis, searching forthese words that come out of their throats at the cost of great physical effort. Even members of the SwissArmy use English (not French) as a lingua franca (it would be fun to listen). Consider that a very smallminority of Americans of northern European descent is from England; traditionally the preponderant ethnicgroups are of German, Irish, Dutch, French, and other northern European extraction. Yet because all thesegroups now use English as their main tongue, they have to study the roots of their adoptive tongue anddevelop a cultural association with parts of a particular wet island, along with its history, its traditions, andits customs!
What is the appropriate meaning of 'lingua franca'?
- A.
Foreign language unable to dislodge other languages.
- B.
Common language among people of diverse speech.
- C.
Language used in scientific writings.
- D.
Language spoken in France.
Which of the following statement is TRUE?
- A.
Matthews talked about randomness but Zipf talked about careful choice.
- B.
Zipf had presented Matthews' work parsimoniously.
- C.
Both Matthews and Zipf have discussed about ubiquitous application of scientific language.
- D.
Both Matthews and Zipf have discussed about preferential attachment.
Which of the following statement is CORRECT?
- A.
The passage deals with mnemonics.
- B.
The passage deals with contradiction in ideas suggested by the two linguists.
- C.
The passage illustrates how initial advantage follows throughout the life.
- D.
The passage establishes the idea of supremacy of English over other languages.
Read the passage and answer the questions.
Passage
How is it that people come to use certain nonverbal behaviours in specific settings, or associate a particular behaviour (e.g., smiling) with a particular meaning (e.g., happiness)? A sociocultural approach toanswering these questions focuses on the ways in which behaviours and their meanings are prescribed atsocial or cultural levels and on the ways in which people come to acquire them. Encompassing a number ofmodels and theories, the sociocultural paradigm emphasizes the influence of human interaction in creatingand transmitting understanding; thus, it highlights the effects of culture, class, religion, sexuality, power, orother socially maintained factors on the enactment and meaning of behaviour.
The fundamental assumption underlying the sociocultural paradigm is that interpersonal behaviour and its meanings are learned through the diffusion of social or cultural knowledge and are, therefore, malleable. Because interpersonal behaviours are learned rather than innate, both behaviours and their meanings canbe altered by changing the knowledge that is conveyed. This can explain, for instance, not only why cultures vary one from another in both their behaviours and the meanings of those behaviours, but alsowhy, without access to another culture’s knowledge, people often find cross-cultural communication so challenging.
Central to the sociocultural paradigm, then, are two ideas: i) Most nonverbal communication is learned,rather than innate, and, ii) Most non-verbal behaviours do not have inherent meanings, but rather, theirmeanings are products of social consensus. These principles have found widespread acceptance within thefield of human communication, perhaps, in part, because of their considerable intuitive appeal. It is easy toidentify examples of behavioural learning simply by considering the apparent influence of parents,teachers, gender roles, cultural norms, and the media on children’s behaviours. Consequently, theparadigm seems to have face validity as an approach that is isomorphic with people’s everyday experiences.
A related strength of the sociocultural paradigm is found in the magnitude of the empirical evidence thathas been marshalled in support of it. Perhaps as a result of its intuitive appeal, many researchers haveapplied the tenets of the paradigm to their own work and have found support for the influence of learning,or for the social embeddedness of meaning, across a wide range of topics, ranging from personalitydevelopment and child discipline, to gender role acquisition, doctor-patient communication, and therelational messages of nonverbal behaviours.
One potential criticism of the sociocultural paradigm is that its emphasis on the social influences onlearning behaviour and creating meaning obscures what may be substantial non-social influences on thesame outcomes, including the influence of genetics. Certainly, any paradigm will lead its proponents toattend to particular variables more than others; the problem lies in the potential to misinterpret geneticeffects, for instance, as the effects of learning or socialization. An important example derives from thestudy of parental influence on child personality development. As Harris (1998) noted in her detailed review,there is no shortage of social science research showing that children are more likely than not to grow upwith personalities similar to those of their parents. That is, pleasant, affectionate parents tend to rearpleasant, affectionate children, whereas aggressive, violent parents tend to rear children who are likewiseaggressive and violent. Working from the framework of the sociocultural paradigm, one would find littledifficulty explaining these robust patterns as products of socialization: children observe their parentsbehaving in a pleasant, affectionate manner and come to adopt the same disposition themselves. However,as Harris (1995) pointed out, much of the research examining parental-offspring congruence in dispositionhas failed to control for an important alternative hypothesis: children are similar to their parents because oftheir genetic relatedness to the parents, not because of how they were socialized. To the extent thatresearchers in this area have failed to entertain (and, consequently, to control for) such an alternative, therefore, they may run the risk of misattributing—or at least, overattributing—the observed similaritybetween parents and children to a social influence, when a non social influence is also operative.
Find out the incorrect statement:
- A.
Human interaction is responsible for the enactment and meaning of behaviour through creating and transmitting understanding.
- B.
Culture, class, religion, sexuality, power, or other socially maintained factors influence humaninteractions.
- C.
Nonverbal behaviours do not have inherent meanings but, instead, acquire their meanings throughsocial consensus.
- D.
Because nonverbal communication is learned rather than innate, both behaviours and theirmeanings can be altered by changing the knowledge that is conveyed.
Which of the following cannot be implied from "This can explain, for instance, not only ......people often find cross-cultural communication so challenging" (2nd para) in the passage:
- A.
The same behaviour can vary in meaning from one social or cultural group to another.
- B.
There are consensually recognized meanings for nonverbal behaviour within a given culturalcommunity.
- C.
All receivers and observers of a specified behaviour within a community attribute fairly consistentmeanings to that behaviour making cross-cultural communication challenging.
- D.
Meanings of behaviours are located within the particular individuals and interactions from whencethey originate, making the cross cultural communication challenging.
Which of the following is not true about the criticisms of sociocultural paradigm explained inpassage:
- A.
Learning behaviour and creating meaning can be attributed to certain variables other than thesocial influences.
- B.
The research examining parental-offspring congruence in dispositions overattributes the similarity to social influences.
- C.
Researchers in the socio-cultural paradigm should consider entertaining and controlling for non-social influences else the former may run the risk of misattributing-or at least, overattributing-theobserved similarity between parents and children to a social influence.
- D.
Rather than the social influences, non-social influences such as genetics can also help explain whychildren are more likely to grow up with personalities similar to those of their parents.
Identify the most suitable title for this passage:
- A.
The Sociocultural Paradigm, Genetics and the Non-verbal Behaviours
- B.
The Sociocultural Paradigm: A Summary
- C.
The Sociocultural Paradigm and Non-social Influences
- D.
The Sociocultural Paradigm: An Explanation and Critique
Read the following passage:
The ùber philosopher Bertrand Russell presents a particularly toxic variant of my surprise jolt in hisillustration of what people in his line of business call the Problem of Induction or Problem of InductiveKnowledge certainly the mother of all problems in life.
Consider a turkey that is fed every day. Every single feeding will firm up the bird's belief that it is thegeneral rule of life to be fed every day by friendly members of the human race "looking out for its bestinterests," as a politician would say. On the afternoon of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, something unexpected will happen to the turkey. It will incur a revision of belief.
What can a turkey learn about what is in store for it tomorrow from the events of yesterday? A lot,perhaps, but certainly a little less than it thinks, and it is just that "little less" that may make all thedifference. The turkey problem can be generalized to any situation where the same hand that feeds youcan be the one that wrings your neck.
Let us go one step further and consider induction's most worrisome aspect: learning backward. Considerthat the turkey's experience may have, rather than no value, a negative value. It learned from observation,as we are all advised to do (hey, after all, this is what is believed to be the scientific method). Itsconfidence increased as the number of friendly feedings grew, and it felt increasingly safe even though theslaughter was more and more imminent. Consider that the feeling of safety reached its maximum when therisk was at the highest! But the problem is even more general than that; it strikes at the nature ofempirical knowledge itself. Something has worked in the past, until—well, it unexpectedly no longer does,and what we have learned from the past turns out to be at best irrelevant or false, at worst viciously misleading.
FIGURE 1: ONE THOUSAND AND ONE DAYS OF HISTORY
It would appear to a quoting dilettante—i.e., one of those writers and scholars who fill up their texts with phrases from some dead authority—that, as phrased by Hobbes, "from like antecedents flow like consequents." Those who believe in the unconditional benefits of past experience should consider this pearl of wisdom allegedly voiced by a famous ship's captain:
But in all my experience, I have never been in any accident. . . of any sort worth speaking about. I haveseen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea. I never saw a wreck and never have been wreckednor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort.
E. J . Smith, 1907, Captain, RMS
Titanic
Captain Smith's ship sank in 1912 in what became the most talked-about shipwreck in history.
What is the central idea of the passage?
- A.
Foible scientific ideas / frameworks must be discarded in case of human/animal behavior.
- B.
Unpredictability is embedded in human nature.
- C.
Cognitive dissonance makes us blind towards objective reality.
- D.
A big change takes place that is completely unprepared for by the past.
What does the figure convey?
- A.
Finite conclusions maybe drawn from infinite observations.
- B.
Infinite conclusions maybe drawn from finite observations.
- C.
Naive projection of the future from the past tells nothing about future.
- D.
Subterfuge knowledge based on observations.
Identify the INCORRECT idiom:
- A.
Like a dying turkey in a thunderstorm.
- B.
Go cold turkey.
- C.
Talk turkey.
- D.
Like turkey's voting for Christmas.
Which of the following is a CORRECT statement?
- A.
The passage deals with the issue of trust in politics.
- B.
The passage deals with the importance of counterintuitive evidence.
- C.
The passage deals with the issues of animal psychology.
- D.
The passage deals with popcorning issues at animal farm.
Select the option with the incorrect spelling:
- A.
Insuinuate
- B.
Sombre
- C.
Interloper
- D.
Gaffe
Fill in the blank with appropriate preposition:
The short story has great affinity _____ the novel.
- A.
with
- B.
between
- C.
over
- D.
on
A little change or alteration in usage of the article/helping verb may change meaningof a sentence. Below given are the sentences along with their meanings; identify the expressions with thecorrect meaning and choose the right option:
I. Little hope of success - no hope
II. A little hope of success - some hope at least
III. A neighbor to one - living near one
IV. Neighbor to one - kind to one
- A.
Only I and II are correct
- B.
Only III and IV are correct
- C.
Only II and III are correct
- D.
All I, II, III and IV are correct
A little change or alteration in usage of the article/helping verb may change meaningof a sentence. Below given are the sentences along with their meanings; identify the expressions with thecorrect meaning and choose the right option:
I. Go to sea - become a sailor
II. Go to the sea - go on a voyage
III. Go to bed - go to the place where the bed is
IV. Go to the bed - go to sleep
- A.
Only I and III are correct
- B.
Only II and IV are correct
- C.
Only I and II are correct
- D.
Only II and III are correct