Para Completion - Previous Year CAT/MBA Questions
You can practice all previous year CAT questions from the topic Para Completion. This will help you understand the type of questions asked in CAT. It would be best if you clear your concepts before you practice previous year CAT questions.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Most people at their first consultation take a furtive look at the surgeon’s hands in the hope of reassurance. Prospective patients look for delicacy, sensitivity, steadiness, perhaps unblemished pallor. On this basis, Henry Perowne loses a number of cases each year. Generally, he knows it’s about to happen before the patient does: the downward glance repeated, the prepared questions beginning to falter, the overemphatic thanks during the retreat to the door.
- A.
Other people do not communicate due to their poor observation.
- B.
Other patients don’t like what they see but are ignorant of their right to go elsewhere.
- C.
But Perowne himself is not concerned.
- D.
But others will take their place, he thought.
- E.
These hands are steady enough, but they are large.
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ReportEach of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Trade protectionism, disguised as concern for the climate, is raising its head. Citing competitiveness concerns, powerful industrialized countries are holding out threats of a levy on imports of energy-intensive products from developing countries that refuse to accept their demands. The actual source of protectionist sentiment in the OECD countries is, of course, their current lacklustre economic performance, combined with the challenges posed by the rapid economic rise of China and India - in that order.
- A.
Climate change is evoked to bring trade protectionism through the back door.
- B.
OECD countries are taking refuge in climate change issues to erect trade barriers against these two countries.
- C.
Climate change concerns have come as a convenient stick to beat the rising trade power of China and India.
- D.
Defenders of the global economic status quo are posing as climate change champions.
- E.
Today’s climate change champions are the perpetrators of global economic inequity.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Mattancherry is Indian Jewry’s most famous settlement. Its pretty streets of pastel coloured houses, connected by first-floor passages and home to the last twelve saree-and-sarong-wearing, white-skinned Indian Jews are visited by thousands of tourists each year. Its synagogue, built in 1568, with a floor of blue-and-white Chinese tiles, a carpet given by Haile Selassie and the frosty Yaheh selling tickets at the door, stands as an image of religious tolerance.
- A.
Mattancherry represents, therefore, the perfect picture of peaceful co-existence.
- B.
India’s Jews have almost never suffered discrimination, except for European colonizers and each other.
- C.
Jews in India were always tolerant.
- D.
Religious tolerance has always been only a façade and nothing more.
- E.
The pretty pastel streets are, thus, very popular with the tourists.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Given the cultural and intellectual interconnections, the question of what is ‘Western’ and what is ‘Eastern’ (or ‘Indian’) is often hard to decide, and the issue can be discussed only in more dialectical terms. The diagnosis of a thought as ‘purely Western’ or ‘purely Indian’ can be very illusory.
- A.
Thoughts are not the kind of things that can be easily categorized.
- B.
Though ‘occidentalism’ and ‘orientalism’ as dichotomous concepts have found many adherents.
- C.
‘East is East and West is West’ has been a discredited notion for a long time now.
- D.
Compartmentalizing thoughts is often desirable.
- E.
The origin of a thought is not the kind of thing to which ‘purity’ happens easily.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Characters are also part of deep structure. Characters tie events in a story together and provide a thread of continuity and meaning. Stories can be about individuals, groups, projects or whole organizations, so from an organizational studies perspective, the focal actor(s) determine the level and unit of analysis used in a study. Stories of mergers and acquisitions, for example, are common place. In these stories whole organizations are personified as actors. But these macro-level stories usually are not told from the perspective of the macro-level participants, because whole organizations cannot narrate their experiences in the first person.
- A.
More generally, data concerning the identities and relationships of the characters in the story are required, if one is to understand role structure and social networks in which that process is embedded.
- B.
Personification of a whole organization abstracts away from the particular actors and from traditional notions of level of analysis.
- C.
The personification of a whole organization is important because stories differ depending on who is enacting various events.
- D.
Every story is told from a particular point of view, with a particular narrative voice, which is not regarded as part of the deep structure.
- E.
The personification of a whole organization is a textual device we use to make macro-level theories more comprehensible.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Nevertheless, photographs still retain some of the magical allure that the earliest daguerreotypes inspired. As objects, our photographs have changed; they have become physically flimsier as they have become more technologically sophisticated. Daguerre produced pictures on copper plates; today many of our photographs never become tangible thins, but instead remain filed away on computers and cameras, part of the digital ether that envelops the modern world. At the same time, our patience for the creation of images has also eroded. Children today are used to being tracked from birth by digital cameras and video recorders and they expect to see the results of their poses and performances instantly. The space between life as it is being lived and life as it is being displayed shrinks to a mere second. ______________________
- A.
Yet, despite these technical developments, photographs still remain powerful because they are reminders of the people and things we care about.
- B.
Images, after all, are surrogates carried into battle by a soldier or by a traveller on holiday.
- C.
Photographs, be they digital or traditional, exist to remind us of the absent, the beloved, and the dead.
- D.
In the new era of the digital image, the images also have a greater potential for fostering falsehood and trickery, perpetuating fictions that seem so real we cannot tell the difference.
- E.
Anyway, human nature being what it is, little time has passed after photography’s inventions became means of living life through images.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe - the only private lady detective in Botswana - brewed red bush tea. And three mugs - one for herself, one for her secretary and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance. ___________________
- A.
But there was also the view, which again would appear on no inventory.
- B.
No inventory would ever include those, of course.
- C.
She had an intelligent secretary too.
- D.
She was a good detective and a good woman.
- E.
What she lacked in possessions was more than made up by a natural shrewdness.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
I am sometimes attacked for imposing 'rules‘. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hate rules. All I do is report on how consumers react to different stimuli. I may say to a copywriter, “research shows that commercials with celebrities are below average in persuading people to buy products. Are you sure you want to use a celebrity?” Call that a rule? Or I may say to an art director, “research suggests that if you set the copy in black type on a white background, more people will read it than if you set it in white type on a black background.”_____________________
- A.
Guidance based on applied research can hardly qualify as ‘rules’.
- B.
Thus, all my so called ‘rules’ are rooted in applied research.
- C.
A suggestion perhaps, but scarcely a rule.
- D.
Such principles are unavoidable if one wants to be systematic about consumer behaviour.
- E.
Fundamentally it is about consumer behaviour- not about celebrities or type settings.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Relations between the factory and the dealer are distant and usually strained as the factory tries to force cars on the dealers to smooth out production. Relations between the dealer and the customer are equally strained because dealers continuously adjust prices - make deals - to adjust demand with supply while maximizing profits. This becomes a system marked by a lack of long- term commitment on either side, which maximize feelings of mistrust. In order to maximize their bargaining positions, everyone holds back information- the dealer about the product and the consumer about his true desires.______________________
- A.
As a result, ‘deal making’ becomes rampant, without concern for customer satisfaction.
- B.
As a result, inefficiencies creep into the supply chain.
- C.
As a result, everyone treats the other as an adversary, rather than as an ally.
- D.
As a result, fundamental innovations are becoming scarce in the automobile industry.
- E.
As a result, everyone loses in the long run.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
In the evolving world order, the comparative advantage of the United States lies in its military force. Diplomacy and international law have always been regarded as annoying encumbrances, unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy. Every active player in world affairs professes to seek only peace and to prefer negotiation to violence and coercion._______________
- A.
However, diplomacy has often been used as a mask by nations which intended to use force.
- B.
However, when the veil is lifted, we commonly see that diplomacy is understood as a disguise for the rule of force.
- C.
However, history has shown that many of these nations do not practice what they profess.
- D.
However, history tells us that peace is professed by those who intend to use violence.
- E.
However, when unmasked, such nations reveal a penchant for the use of force.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Age has a curvilinear relationship with the exploitation of opportunity. Initially, age will increase the likelihood that a person will exploit an entrepreneurial opportunity because people gather much of the knowledge necessary to exploit opportunities over the course of their lives, and because age provides credibility in transmitting that information to others. However, as people become older, their willingness to bear risks declines, their opportunity costs rise, and they become less receptive to new information.____________________________
- A.
As a result, people transmit more information rather than experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age.
- B.
As a result, people are reluctant to experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age.
- C.
As a result, only people with lower opportunity costs exploit opportunity when they reach an advanced age.
- D.
As a result, people become reluctant to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities when they reach an advanced age.
- E.
As a result, people depend on credibility rather than on novelty as they reach an advanced age.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
We can usefully think of theoretical models as maps, which help us navigate unfamiliar territory. The most accurate map that it is possible to construct would be of no practical use whatsoever, for it would be an exact replica, on exactly the same scale, of the place where we were. Good maps pull out the most important features and throw away a huge amount of much less valuable information. Of course, maps can be bad as well as good- witness the attempts by medieval Europe to produce a map of the world. In the same way, a bad theory, no matter how impressive it may seem in principle, does little or nothing to help us understand a problem.__________________________
- A.
But good theories, just like good maps, are invaluable, even if they are simplified.
- B.
But good theories, just like good maps, will never represent unfamiliar concepts in detail.
- C.
But good theories, just like good maps, need to balance detail and feasibility of representation.
- D.
But good theories, just like good maps, are accurate only at a certain level of abstraction.
- E.
But good theories, just like good maps, are useful in the hands of a user who knows their limitations.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
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.
- A.
Sudoku, on the other hand, is just a logical exercise, each one similar to the last.
- B.
Sudoku, incidentally, is growing faster in popularity than crosswords, even among the literati.
- C.
Sudoku, on the other hand, can be attempted and enjoyed even by children.
- D.
Sudoku, however, is not exciting in any sense of the term.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Most firms consider expert individuals to be too elitist, temperamental, egocentric, and difficult to work with. Force such people to collaborate on a high- stakes project and they just might come to fisticuffs. Even the very notion of managing such a group seems unimaginable. So most organizations fall into default mode, setting up project teams of people who get along nicely.__________________________
- A.
The result, however, is disastrous.
- B.
The result is mediocrity.
- C.
The result is creation of experts who then become elitists.
- D.
Naturally, they drive innovations.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Federer's fifth grand slam win prompted a reporter to ask whether he was the best ever. Federer is certainly not lacking in confidence, but he wasn't about to proclaim himself the best ever. "The best player of this generation, yes", he said, "But nowhere close to ever. Just look at the records that some guys have. I'm a minnow".___________________________________
- A.
His win against Agassi, a genius from the previous generation, contradicts that.
- B.
Sampras, the king of an earlier generation, was as humble.
- C.
He is more than a minnow to his contemporaries.
- D.
The difference between ‘the best of this generation' and ‘the best ever' is a matter of perception.
Each of the following questions has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Thus the end of knowledge and the closing of the frontier that it symbolizes is not a looming crisis at all, but merely one of many embarrassing fits of hubris in civilization's long industry. In the end, it will pass away and be forgotten. Ours is not the first generation to struggle to understand the organizational laws of the frontier, deceive itself that it has succeeded, and go to its grave having failed.________________________
- A.
One would be wise to be humble.
- B.
But we might be the first generation to actually reach the frontier.
- C.
But we might be the first generation to deal with the crisis.
- D.
However, this time the success is not illusory.
Each question is a logical sequence of statements with a missing link, the location of which is shown parenthetically. From the four choices available you are required to choose the one which best fits the sequence logically.
Many of us live one-eyed lives. We rely largely on the eye of the mind to form our images of reality. It is a mechanical world based on fact and reason. (_______). So today more and more of us are opening the other eye, the eye of the heart, looking for realities to which the mind’s eye is blind. This is a world warmed and transformed by the power of love, a vision of community beyond the mind’s capacity to see. Either eye alone is not enough. We need “wholesight”, a vision of the world in which mind and heart unite.
- A.
It had led to unprecedented scientific growth and material well – being.
- B.
In the nuclear age, our mind-made world has been found flawed and dangerous, even lethal,
- C.
The question is irrelevant, whether or not they can be seen and reasoned.
- D.
We have built our lives based on it because it seemed predictable and safe.
Each question is a logical sequence of statements with a missing link, the location of which is shown parenthetically. From the four choices available you are required to choose the one which best fits the sequence logically.
People arguing for a position have been known to cast the opposite in an unnecessarily feeble light. (______). People who indulge in this fallacy may be fearful or ignorant of a strong counter argument. Detecting this fallacy often depends on having already heard a better refutation, or having information with which to construct one.
- A.
Casting the opposite as weaker than it really is, is a very effective strategy.
- B.
This portrayal of a refutation as weaker than it really is, is a sure way of proving your point.
- C.
Casting the opposite as weaker than it really is, is not a very effective strategy.
- D.
This portrayal of refutation as weaker than it really is, is unwarranted.
Each question is a logical sequence of statements with a missing link, the location of which is shown parenthetically. From the four choices available you are required to choose the one which best fits the sequence logically.
The question of what rights animals should enjoy is a vexatious one, Hundreds of millions of animals are put to death for human use each year. Contrariwise, it can be argued that slowing down scientific research would retard discovery of antidotes to diseases such as cancer which kill humans and animals alike. (_________). What if super intelligent beings from Alpha Centauri landed on earth and decided to use us for their experiments, arguing that they could save far more of their and our lives by so doing?
- A.
It will benefit both in the long run.
- B.
Is the argument truly fair to animals?
- C.
But the progress of human civilization cannot be made contingent on some hypothetical rights of animals.
- D.
There is no question of equating human rights with those of animals.
Each question is a logical sequence of statements with a missing link, the location of which is shown parenthetically. From the four choices available you are required to choose the one which best fits the sequence logically.
A deliberation is a form of discussion in which two people begin on different sides of an issue. (_______) Then each decides, in the light of the other argument whether to adopt the other position, to change his or her position somewhat, or to maintain the same position. Both sides realize that to modify one’s position is not to lose; the point is to get closer to the truth of the matter.
- A.
Each person argues his or her position most sincerely.
- B.
The prerequisite for deliberation to be productive is that persons involved must keep an open mind.
- C.
The purpose is to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of both parties.
- D.
The trick is to state your viewpoint from a position of strength.
Each of these questions contains a sentence followed by four choices. Select from among these choices the one which most logically completes the idea contained in the given sentence.
Particularly today, when so many difficult and complex problems face the human species, the development of broad
- A.
and powerful shoulders is necessary.
- B.
plans of action is not possible.
- C.
moral values is required.
- D.
and powerful thinking is desperately needed.
Each of these questions contains a sentence followed by four choices. Select from among these choices the one which most logically completes the idea contained in the given sentence.
In the European Community countries there has been talk of an energy tax to raise funds
- A.
by burdening the rich who can afford higher taxes.
- B.
to penalise heavy users of energy.
- C.
by raising the price of energy-intensive implements.
- D.
to search for alternative sources of energy.
Each of these questions contains a sentence followed by four choices. Select from among these choices the one which most logically completes the idea contained in the given sentence.
“Look before you leap” reflects an attitude expressed in such a saying as
- A.
‘Forewarned is forearmed.’
- B.
‘A stitch in time saves nine.’
- C.
‘No risk no gain.’
- D.
‘Fools rush where the angels fear to tread.’
Each of these questions contains a sentence followed by four choices. Select from among these choices the one which most logically completes the idea contained in the given sentence.
This is the ancient kingdom of Sumeria and you are its venerated ruler. The fate of Sumeria’ economy and of your royal subjects
- A.
is written in their horoscopes.
- B.
is as unknown as the name of your kingdom.
- C.
is entirely in your hands.
- D.
is allocated according to their needs.
Each of these questions contains a sentence followed by four choices. Select from among these choices the one which most logically completes the idea contained in the given sentence.
Furthermore, to be radical means to be ready and willing to break with the predominant cultural, political and social beliefs and values in order to
- A.
investigate the essential realities that they conceal.
- B.
investigate the root cause of malaise in a society.
- C.
shape a new economic order.
- D.
re-construct the system in terms of new realities.