CAT 2017 Slot 2 — VARC Question 31
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.
- Johnson treated English very practically, as a living language, with many different shades of meaning and adopted his definitions on the principle of English common law-according to precedent.
- Masking a profound inner torment, Johnson found solace in compiling the words of a language that was, in its coarse complexity and comprehensive genius, the precise analogue of his character.
- Samuel Johnson was a pioneer who raised common sense to heights of genius, and a man of robust popular instincts whose watchwords were clarity, precision and simplicity.
- The 18th century English reader, in the new world of global trade and global warfare, needed a dictionary with authoritative acts of definition of words of a language that was becoming seeded throughout the first British empire by vigorous and practical champion.
- The Johnson who challenged Bishop Berkeley’s solipsist theory of the nonexistence of matter by kicking a large stone (“I refute it thus”) is the same Johnson for whom language must have a daily practical use.
Answer & solution
Correct answer: 43512
Answer: 43512
Easy
A five-sentence rearrangement about Samuel Johnson and his dictionary. Locate the opener that sets up the need for the dictionary, introduce the man, then arrange the descriptive sentences using references to his "practical" attitude, ending with the sentence that sums up his character.
Find the opener. Sentence 4 establishes the context and the need: the 18th-century English reader "needed a dictionary with authoritative acts of definition... seeded throughout the first British empire by a vigorous and practical champion." It sets up both the dictionary and a "champion" — the natural opening. Start with 4.
Introduce the champion. Sentence 3 names him — "Samuel Johnson was a pioneer who raised common sense to heights of genius... whose watchwords were clarity, precision and simplicity." This identifies the "champion" promised in 4. Sequence: 4, 3.
Illustrate his practicality. Sentence 5 gives a vivid example — Johnson refuting Berkeley by kicking a stone — establishing him as "the same Johnson for whom language must have a daily practical use." It demonstrates the practical, common-sense character just claimed in 3. Sequence: 4, 3, 5.
Apply practicality to the dictionary. Sentence 1 says Johnson "treated English very practically, as a living language... according to precedent." It picks up the practical-use idea from 5 and applies it to how he wrote his definitions. So 1 follows 5, not 2. Sequence: 4, 3, 5, 1.
Close on character. Sentence 2 is the summative closer — "Masking a profound inner torment, Johnson found solace in compiling the words of a language that was... the precise analogue of his character." It reflects on the personality already established, so it sits last. Final sequence: 4, 3, 5, 1, 2.
The coherent order is 4 → 3 → 5 → 1 → 2. Key in 43512.
Related Mixed Practice questions
- In the author’s view, cities promote human creativity for all the followin…
- The author uses ‘ironic’ in the third paragraph to point out that…
- The central idea of this passage is that…
- Jane Jacobs believed that cities that are more creative.…
- The 1968 study is used here to show that…
- The author’s conclusions about the most ‘creative cities ‘in t…