CAT 2002 — VARC Question 50
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.
OSTENSIBLE - The watchmen's ostensible job is to guard this building.
Answer & solution
- A
Blatant
- B
Ostentatious
- C
Insidious
Apparent
Blatant is ‘unpleasantly loud’ or ‘obtrusive’ which is definitely not the case here. Don’t confuse it with ‘blatant truth’. Here, the meaning has to do with something very basic.
Guarding a building at night cannot be an ostentatious (showy) job. Nor, can it be an insidious (sinister) job.
Ostensible means ‘seeming, professed’. Or, apparent– guarding the building was his obvious job.
Hence, the correct answer is option 4.