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CAT 2017 Slot 1 — VARC Question 28

Mixed PracticeEasy

The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, from a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a number. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of five numbers as your answer.

  1. The process of handing down implies not a passive transfer, but some contestation in defining what exactly is to be handed down.
  2. Wherever Western scholars have worked on the Indian past, the selection is even more apparent and the inventing of a tradition much more recognizable.
  3. Every generation selects what it requires from the past and makes its innovations, some more than others.
  4. It is now a truism to say that traditions are not handed down unchanged, but are invented.
  5. Just as life has death as its opposite, so is tradition by default the opposite of innovation.

Answer & solution

Correct answer: 54132

Answer: 54132

Solution

Easy

Five-sentence para-jumble (key in the order). Find the opener (introduces the theme of tradition vs innovation) and the mandatory pairs linked by repeated keywords and pronouns, then thread the leftover sentence into the only slot that keeps the logic flowing.

1

Opener: 5. Sentence 5 introduces the central idea — “tradition by default the opposite of innovation” — with a general framing analogy (life/death). The other four all elaborate on tradition, so 5 is the natural start.

2

Pair 5–4. Sentence 4 advances the same theme: “traditions are not handed down unchanged, but are invented.” It builds directly on 5’s definition of tradition, giving the chain 5–4.

3

4–1 link. Sentence 4 ends on “handed down … invented”; sentence 1 picks up “The process of handing down implies … some contestation in defining what exactly is to be handed down.” The repeated phrase makes 5–4–1.

4

Mandatory pair 3–2. Sentence 3 says “Every generation selects what it requires”; sentence 2 continues “the selection is even more apparent” for Western scholars — a clear comparative escalation. So 3–2, and the “even more” comparison best caps the paragraph.

5

Assemble. Opening block 5–4–1 (theme → invention → the contested handing-down), then the selection pair 3–2 to close: 5 – 4 – 1 – 3 – 2.

Correct sequence: 54132.

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CAT 2017 Slot 1 VARC Q28: The five sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) given in this question, when properly sequenced, from a coherent p — Solution | TheCATExam