Section C – Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning

Analyse the following passage and answer the questions 81-82.

Some words are highly inflammable. Fusion is one of them. You can get two sets of people into a war mode by just uttering the words “fusion music”. One set will breathe fire and say it violates the purity of music: the other set will tell you earnestly that it opens up the borders of music.

81. The statement “Some words are highly inflammable”

A. captures the essence of the passage.

B. is a linguistic embellishment to the passage.

C. is an irrelevant exaggeration used in the passage.

D. is an unsubstantiated dogmatic assertion.

E. is a contradictory statement in the passage.

Solution:

The passage is about people having contradictory feelings about such things as music and their fighting with one another due to that. It is not only about the words, but about the concepts or ideas and one’s inclination towards them. Hence, we can’t say that the statement ‘some words are highly inflammable’ captures the essence, (A). It is also not irrelevant and so the answer can’t be (C) as well. The statement, catches the reader’s attention with its extreme claim. The author uses it for the ‘eye-catching’ effect. Hence, the answer is B (embellishment means decoration). The expression in the figure of speech called hyperbole. D is wrong (it is not ‘dogmatic’) and E is not correct.

Choice (B)

82. From the purists’ perspective, the “war” between the two sets of people can best be

A. categorized as an ideological conflict between two ideas.

B. termed as a conflict between generations – the younger versus the older generation.

C. an attempt to preserve the core principles.

D. seen as an attempt of people at the margin to occupy centre-stage.

E. seen as preserving the social identity of purists.

Solution:

Purists are people who endeavour to preserve the essence. Hence, the ‘war’ from their perspective is (C). A is too general; B, D and E are irrelevant. Choice (C)