Section C – Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

Analyse the following passage and provide an appropriate answer for the questions 72 through 73 that follow.

Fashion is different from custom, or rather is a particular species of it. That is not the fashion which everybody wears, but which those wear who are of a high rank, or character. The graceful, the easy and the commanding manners of the great, joined to the usual richness and magnificence of their dress, give a grace to the very form which they happen to bestow upon it. As long as they continue to use this form it is connected in our imaginations with the idea of something that is genteel and magnificent, and though in itself it should be indifferent, it seems, on account of this relation, to have something about it that is genteel and magnificent too. As soon as they drop it, it loses all the grace, which it had appeared to possess before, and being now used only by the inferior ranks of people, seems to have something of their meanness and awkwardness.

72. Which phrase would be the best title of the passage?

A. Proletariat fashion models and fashion shows

B. Scourge of fashion

C. The clothes maketh the man

D. The man maketh the cloth

E. Predicting fashion-trends and character

Solution:

The passage is about fashion and custom being different. The author defines fashion as that which involves people of high rank or character (line 2). He goes on to conclude that the same fashion loses grace when these people drop it and when people of inferior ranks are involved (last 3 lines). This means it is not the cloth that makes fashion but the people who use the cloth that make it fashion. Hence the best title for the passage is D. Choice (D)

73. Which is nearest to the central idea in the passage?

A. Fashion improves grace of a person.

B. Grace is indicated by the fashion adopted.

C. Grace is a characteristic of imaginative persons.

D. The contemporary nature of fashion portrays the society.

E. Grace is a reflection of the person’s rank or character.

Solution:

While defining fashion (from his point of view), the author emphasises that grace is the quality of high ranking people or people of good character (lines 2 & 3). He emphasises the opposite too, in lines 8 and 9. Hence, the central idea is statement E. A and B contradict what the author has stated; C and D are out of the scope of the passage. Choice (E)