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CAT 2003 Slot 1 — VARC Question 31

UsageEasy
Passage / Data

The verse given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the journey is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one,
may there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours seen for the first time:
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind –
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting lthaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey,
without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean

In each of the questions, four different ways of presenting an idea are given. Choose the one that conforms most closely to Standard English usage.

  1. The running of large businesses consist of getting somebody to make something that somebody else sold to somebody else for more than its cost.
  2. The running of a large business consists of getting somebody to make something that somebody else will sell to somebody else for more than it costs.
  3. The running of a large business consists of getting somebody to sell something that somebody else made for more than it cost.
  4. The running of large businesses consist of getting somebody to make something else that somebody else will sell to somebody else for more than it costs.

Answer & solution

  • A

    1

  • 2

  • C

    3

  • D

    4

Solution

The subject, ‘running of a large business’ or ‘running of large businesses’ is singular and should take a singular verb (consists) and not plural (consist). With that, options 1 and 4 can be ruled out.
In C, it should be ‘more than its cost.’ Option 3 can therefore be eliminated.
Statement B is correct in this regard (‘more than it costs’ is correct).

Hence, the correct answer is option 2.

CAT 2003 Slot 1 VARC Q31: In each of the questions, four different ways of presenting an idea are given. Choose the one that conforms mo — Solution | TheCATExam