CAT 2002 — VARC Question 47
Fill the gaps in the passage below with the most appropriate word from the options given for each gap. The right words are the ones used by the author. Be guided by the author's overall style and meaning when you choose the answers.
In a large company, ______1______ people is about as common as using a gun or a switch-blade to ______2_______ an argument. As a result, most managers have little or no experience of firing people, and they find it emotionally automatic, as result, they often delay the act interminably, much as an unhappy spouse will prolong a bad marriage. And when the firing is done, it's often done clumsily, with far worse side effects than are necessary.
Do the world-class software organizations have a different way of firing people? No. But they do the deed swiftly, humanely, and professionally.
The key point here is to view the fired employee as a "failed product" and to ask how the process ______3_______ such a phenomenon in the first place.
For every word a sentence is given, you have to find out the option which represents the similar meaning to the given word.
PORTENDS - It appears to many that US "war on terrorism" portends trouble in Gulf.
Answer & solution
- A
Introduces
Bodes
- C
Spells
- D
Evokes
Portend is ‘to serve as an omen or a warning of’ or ‘bodes’. All the options may fit, if the meaning is not known. Bodes is the best choice because the trouble is a ‘forecast’ which is another way of saying ‘portend’. Evoke may come close but it is not the same as predicting.
Hence, the correct answer is option 2.