Reading Comprehension - Previous Year CAT/MBA Questions
The best way to prepare for Reading Comprehension is by going through the previous year Reading Comprehension cat questions. Here we bring you all previous year Reading Comprehension cat questions along with detailed solutions.
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It would be best if you clear your concepts before you practice previous year Reading Comprehension cat questions.
What does the author BEST intend to convey when he says, “Now more people have cell phones than have toilets?”
- (a)
Everybody wants to stay connected, using cell phones.
- (b)
The need to be connected is more pronounced now.
- (c)
Cell phones have become a bigger necessity.
- (d)
The usage of toilets is limited, while cell phones are used all the time.
- (e)
The number of cell phone users has increased over time.
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Which of the following can be BEST inferred from the passage?
- (a)
Multitasking helps you complete thousands of tasks, single-tasking makes you do one.
- (b)
Multitasking helps you move towards different goals, single-tasking helps you achieve the one.
- (c)
Multitasking gives you happiness, single-tasking gives you satisfaction.
- (d)
Multitasking gives you a feeling of achieving many things, single-tasking enables actually achieving something.
- (e)
Multitasking takes you all over, single-tasking helps you achieve some goals.
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the three questions that follow.
Considering the multitude of situations in which we humans use numerical information, life without numbers is inconceivable. But what was the benefit of numerical competence for our ancestors, before they became Homo sapiens? Why would animals crunch numbers in the first place? It turns out that processing numbers offers a significant benefit for survival, which is why this behavioural trait is present in many animal populations.
Several studies examining animals in their ecological environments suggest that representing number enhances an animal’s ability to exploit food sources, hunt prey, avoid predation, navigate in its habitat, and persist in social interactions. Before numerically competent animals evolved on the planet, single-celled microscopic bacteria — the oldest living organisms on earth — already exploited quantitative information. The way bacteria make a living is through their consumption of nutrients from their environment. Mostly, they grow and divide themselves to multiply. However, in recent years, microbiologists have discovered they also have a social life and are able to sense the presence or absence of other bacteria; in other words, they can sense the number of bacteria. Take, for example, the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. It has a special property that allows it to produce light through a process called bioluminescence, similar to how fireflies give off light. If these bacteria are in dilute water solutions (where they are alone), they make no light. But when they grow to a certain cell number of bacteria, all of them produce light simultaneously. Therefore, Vibrio fischeri can distinguish when they are alone and when they are together.
Somehow they have to communicate cell number, and it turns out they do this using a chemical language. They secrete communication molecules, and the concentration of these molecules in the water increases in proportion to the cell number. And when this molecule hits a certain amount, called a quorum, it tells the other bacteria how many neighbours there are, and all bacteria glow. This behaviour is called “quorum sensing”: The bacteria vote with signalling molecules, the vote gets counted, and if a certain threshold (the quorum) is reached, every bacterium responds. This behavior is not just an anomaly of Vibrio fischeri; all bacteria use this sort of quorum sensing to communicate their cell number in an indirect way via signalling molecules.
Which of the following statements CANNOT be inferred from the passage?
- (a)
Ancestors of Homo sapiens exploited resources in groups.
- (b)
Ancestors of Homo sapiens sensed numbers.
- (c)
Ancestors of Homo sapiens hunted in groups.
- (d)
Ancestors of Homo sapiens interacted solely using numbers.
- (e)
Ancestors of Homo sapiens used numerical competence.
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Based on the passage, which of the following statements BEST defines “quorum sensing” in bacteria?
- (a)
Bacteria multiply only till they reach their required numbers.
- (b)
Bacteria chat only when they are in groups.
- (c)
Bacteria communicate only in numerical terms with others.
- (d)
Bacteria do not communicate beyond certain numbers.
- (e)
Bacteria respond when they discern enough numbers around them.
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Which of the following statements is NOT based on the premises of the passage?
- (a)
No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it.
- (b)
Teams fear a red card as it would present an advantage for the opponents.
- (c)
Politicians rally with numbers to woo their undecided voters.
- (d)
People protest in large numbers because it helps them get their voices heard.
- (e)
To de-escalate a border tension, countries carry out mirror deployment.
Answer: Option A
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
We can think of the history of life on earth as a vast, long-term experiment in pure competition. Every living organism is competing with all other living organisms for resources (nutrients, sunlight, water, territory, etc.). Nature, or the natural world, is a laboratory of unfettered competition. It’s a dog-eat-dog, no-holds-barred, day-in and day-out struggle.
There are no governmental regulators to protect the weak or favor the strong. All organisms are given a chance, but not necessarily an equal chance. As the climate and the environment change (and change they do), some organisms are favored over others at times, but these advantages are fleeting. What nature gives, nature can take away.
Which of the following can be BEST concluded from the passage?
- (a)
Competition is critical to ensure the survival of the fittest.
- (b)
Without unforgiving competition, the planet will be inundated with the weak.
- (c)
Nature gives a fair opportunity to every organism to survive.
- (d)
Forgiveness is alien to the natural world.
- (e)
Brutal competition is the only constant in the natural world.
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following excerpt and answer the two questions that follow.
Para 1: We plan to right-size our manufacturing operations to align to the new strategy and take advantage of integration opportunities. We expect to focus phone production mainly in Hanoi, with some production to continue in Beijing and Dongguan. We plan to shift other Microsoft manufacturing and repair operations to Manaus and Reynosa respectively, and start a phased exit from Komaron, Hungary.
Para 2: In short, we will focus on driving Lumia volume in the areas where we are already successful today in order to make the market for Windows Phone. With more speed, we will build on our success in the affordable smart phone space with new products offering more differentiation. We’ll focus on acquiring new customers in the markets where Microsoft’s services and products are most concentrated. And, we will continue building momentum around applications.
Para 3: We plan that this would result in an estimated reduction of 12500 factory direct and professional employees over the next year. These decisions are difficult for the team, and we plan to support departing team members with severance benefits.
Which of the following can be BEST described as the core message of the excerpt?
- (a)
Microsoft is reducing its cost of operations, marketing and human resources while staying the course on Lumia.
- (b)
Microsoft is shifting its base of production for Lumia along with the places it is interested in selling them.
- (c)
Microsoft is reducing its cost of operations and downsizing staff while staying optimistic about the future.
- (d)
Microsoft is closing poorly performing factories and personnel though it thinks Lumia has a future.
- (e)
Microsoft is reducing cost of operations and the number of staff involved in operations.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
In conveying the core message, the Para 2:
- (a)
Digresses from the line of thought
- (b)
Elaborates the core message
- (c)
Assuages panic
- (d)
Reassures a promising future
- (e)
Predicts a rosy picture
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following poem and answer the two questions that follow.
Sit, drink your coffee here; your work can wait awhile.
You're twenty-six, and still have some of life ahead.
No need for wit; just talk vacuities, and I'll
Reciprocate in kind, or laugh at you instead.
The world is too opaque, distressing and profound.
This twenty minutes' rendezvous will make my day:
To sit here in the sun, with grackles all around,
Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away.
Which of the following BEST captures the essence of the poem?
- (a)
Let’s celebrate our existence, not our work.
- (b)
Let’s eat, drink and be merry in the lap of nature.
- (c)
Let’s create our own meaning in life, no matter what.
- (d)
Let’s be gibberish, not rational about life.
- (e)
Let’s enjoy a moment of peace in this busy life.
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
What does the poet BEST convey by mentioning grackles in these lines, “...with grackles all around, /Staring with beady eyes, and you two feet away.”?
- (a)
Over witty discussions, grackles are the pleasant birds to look at.
- (b)
Grackles love to stare at us; however, they maintain a two-feet distance.
- (c)
A small bird like grackle can give us lots of happiness.
- (d)
We should not care about grackles, but us.
- (e)
Grackles, like humans, love to bask in the Sun.
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the three questions that follow.
Most of recorded human history is one big data gap. Starting with the theory of Man the Hunter, the chroniclers of the past have left little space for women’s role in the evolution of humanity, whether cultural or biological. Instead, the lives of men have been taken to represent those of humans overall. When it comes to the lives of the other half of humanity, there is often nothing but silence.
And these silences are everywhere. Our entire culture is riddled with them. Films, news, literature, science, city planning, economics. The stories we tell ourselves about our past, present and future. They are all marked—disfigured—by a female-shaped ‘absent presence’. This is the gender data gap.
The gender data gap isn’t just about silence. These silences, these gaps, have consequences. They impact on women’s lives every day. The impact can be relatively minor. Shivering in offices set to a male temperature norm, for example, or struggling to reach a top shelf set at a male height norm. Irritating, certainly. Unjust, undoubtedly.
But not life-threatening. Not like crashing in a car whose safety measures don’t account for women’s measurements. Not like having your heart attack go undiagnosed because your symptoms are deemed ‘atypical’. For these women, the consequences of living in a world built around male data can be deadly.
One of the most important things to say about the gender data gap is that it is not generally malicious, or even deliberate. Quite the opposite. It is simply the product of a way of thinking that has been around for millennia and is therefore a kind of not thinking. A double not thinking, even: men go without saying, and women don’t get said at all. Because when we say human, on the whole, we mean man.
This is not a new observation. Simone de Beauvoir made it most famously when in 1949 she wrote, ‘humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself, but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. [...] He is the Subject, he is the Absolute—she is the Other.’ What is new is the context in which women continue to be ‘the Other’. And that context is a world increasingly reliant on and in thrall to data. Big Data. Which in turn is panned for Big Truths by Big Algorithms, using Big Computers. But when your big data is corrupted by big silences, the truths you get are half-truths, at best. And often, for women, they aren’t true at all. As computer scientists themselves say: ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’.
Based on the passage, which of the following statements BEST explains “absent presence”?
- (a)
The presence is felt due to the specificity of the absence.
- (b)
The absence makes the case for the need for presence.
- (c)
By its sheer absence, it is present.
- (d)
Because of the absence, one can recognise its presence.
- (e)
The absence is female-shaped, making it present.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Based on the passage, which of the following options BEST describes “double not thinking”?
- (a)
Men, over millennia, always confused human with being only male.
- (b)
Men not thinking and women not being allowed to think is due to double not thinking.
- (c)
Over millennia, men and women have been conditioned to treat women as unequal.
- (d)
Whenever humans are mentioned, it is men; further, women are not mentioned.
- (e)
Men’s rejection of women as humans and women’s acceptance of it is the double not thinking.
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Which of the following statements can be BEST concluded from the passage?
- (a)
Women have never been treated as distinct identities which causes the gender data gap.
- (b)
The need of the hour is to revisit the past, and reduce the gender data gap at the earliest.
- (c)
The gender data gap is amplified by data-based decision making.
- (d)
Over millennia, men ignored women, which resulted in the gender data gap and deadly consequences.
- (e)
Emphasis on data-based decision making, can be devastating to women, given the gender data gap.
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the two questions that follow.
And that has to do with the question of uncertainty and doubt. A scientist is never certain. We all know that. We know that all our statements are approximate statements with different degrees of certainty; that when a statement is made, the question is not whether it is true or false but rather how likely it is to be true or false. We must discuss each question within the uncertainties that are allowed. And as evidence grows it increases the probability perhaps that some idea is right or decreases it. But it never makes absolutely certain one way or the other. Now, we have found that this is of paramount importance in order to progress. We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified- how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about or what the purpose of the world is or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.
What does the author BEST mean when he says, “We must discuss each question within the uncertainties that are allowed?”
- (a)
The uncertainties are limited by the nature of the answers sought.
- (b)
The uncertainties should be relevant to the question.
- (c)
We must be prepared to accept errors in the answers we seek.
- (d)
There is a finite set of uncertainties for any question.
- (e)
The question decides the amount of uncertainties that are allowed.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Which of the following BEST describes the essence of the passage?
- (a)
Reasonable scepticism is the characteristic of a scientific mind.
- (b)
Reasonable discomfort with certainty is the path for progress.
- (c)
Progress involves questioning accepted truths.
- (d)
Science can never give a conclusive answer to a question.
- (e)
Doubting the established world order is the purpose of science.
Answer: Option B
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows.
1. We are going to a restaurant but we haven’t decided which one.
2. We went to the toilet behind a tree.
3. It was the November after we went to Indonesia.
4. My friend is travelling to UK.
5. She drinks medicine by a litre.
6. Would you rather go out or watch a TV.
Which of the above sentences have INCORRECT usages of articles?
- (a)
3, 4, 5
- (b)
1, 2, 3
- (c)
4, 5, 6
- (d)
2, 3, 4
- (e)
6, 1, 2
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following sentences and answer the question that follows.
1. In my opinion, Tom Jones is a picaresque novel.
2. According to me, Tom Jones is a bildungsroman.
3. The books were distributed between Jessica, Neha and Swati.
4. The books were distributed among Jessica and Neha.
5. Life teaches us important lessons.
6. The life moves forward, teaches backward.
Which of the above sentences are grammatically CORRECT?
- (a)
2, 3, 6
- (b)
1, 4, 5
- (c)
2, 4, 6
- (d)
1, 4, 6
- (e)
1, 3, 5
Answer: Option E
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
Twitter is not on the masthead of a newspaper. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.
Based on the passage, the writer’s disappointment can be BEST summarised as:
- (a)
Newspapers fear to speak outside the narrow confines of social media.
- (b)
Newspapers get influenced by the followers on social-media platforms.
- (c)
Newspapers cave into the narratives shared on social-media platforms.
- (d)
Newspapers create their own narratives to control the audience.
- (e)
Newspapers are ready to compromise with their ethics.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
Option A: This can be understood from the penultimate paragraph of the passage.
Option B: This can also be inferred from the penultimate paragraph of the passage.
Option C: The author is against the notion of not providing explicit information about the qualitative methods of research. Thus, this is against the author's position and hence is the correct option.
Option D: This can be inferred from the third paragraph of the passage.
Thus, the correct option is C.
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option A
Text Explanation :
"As a consequence of temporal pace and sequencing, qualitative projects (2) will be able to adjust the forms of data, modes and cites of collection in response to the ongoing processes of analysis and interpretation."
Option A: Since this option included the keyword 'only', it puts the underlined difference out of its scope. Thus, as the option is too general and far-fetched, this would be the correct option.
Option B: This is an inference drawn from the second difference between qualitative and quantitative analysis. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option C: This can also be inferred from the fourth paragraph of the passage and hence is not the correct option.
Option D: This option is a restatement of option C in a more concise manner and hence is not the correct option.
Thus, the correct option is A.
Workspace:
"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.
Answer: Option B
Text Explanation :
Option A: Since this option does not include the reaffirmation of the research by a rational process part, this is not the correct option.
Option B: This option most accurately captures the essence of the aforementioned lines and hence is the correct option.
Option C: This option is also incomplete as it is void of the same reason for which option A is discarded. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option D: This is too general of a definition and far-fetched to be the explanation of the given lines. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Thus, the correct option is B.
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option A
Text Explanation :
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option B
Text Explanation :
Lingua franca refers to a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
Thus, the correct option is B.
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option D
Text Explanation :
Both Matthews and Zipf gave their perspective on how inequality is exacerbated by more preference given to the ones who are at the higher end.
Options A and C are distorted inferences drawn from the passage.
Parsimonious refers to stingy behaviour. Since it is not referred to anywhere in the passage, Option B can also be discarded.
Option D: This option aptly captures the essence of Matthews and Zipf's discussion; this is the correct option.
Thus, the correct option is D.
Workspace:
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.
Answer: Option C
Text Explanation :
The main idea of the passage is how it is easier for something of a higher value to increase its value than the contrary.
Option A: Mnemonics means the study and development of systems for improving and assisting memory. Since this is not in the passage's scope, it is not the right answer.
Option B: This is totally the opposite of the viewpoints of the authors discussed in the passage and hence is not the right answer.
Option C: Since this option aptly captures the main idea of the passage, this is the correct answer.
Option D: Although the English language's example is used as an illustration, it is not the main idea of the passage.
Thus, the correct option is D.
Workspace:
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