CAT 2018 Slot 1 — VARC Question 28
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order for the sentences and key in this sequence of four numbers as your answer.
- The eventual diagnosis was skin cancer and after treatment all seemed well.
- The viola player didn’t know what it was; nor did her GP.
- Then a routine scan showed it had come back and spread to her lungs.
- It started with a lump on Cathy Perkins’ index finger.
Answer & solution
Answer: 4213
Easy
This is a sentence-rearrangement (para-jumble). Find the opener (introduces the subject with a full name, no back-reference), then chain the sentences using pronouns and a clear time sequence: onset → not knowing → diagnosis & treatment → recurrence.
Opener → (4). Sentence 4 introduces the subject by full name and states how things began: "It started with a lump on Cathy Perkins' index finger." The others all refer back to this (the lump, "the viola player," "it came back"), so 4 must lead.
(4) → (2): the mystery. Once the lump appears, sentence 2 reacts to it: "The viola player didn't know what it was; nor did her GP." "The viola player" is Cathy Perkins (back-reference to 4), and "what it was" points to the lump. This gives the pair 4–2.
(2) → (1): the diagnosis. After nobody knew what it was, sentence 1 supplies the resolution: "The eventual diagnosis was skin cancer and after treatment all seemed well." "Eventual" answers the uncertainty in 2, and "all seemed well" sets up a reversal. So 2–1.
(1) → (3): the recurrence (closer). Sentence 3 overturns "all seemed well": "Then a routine scan showed it had come back and spread to her lungs." "Then" and "come back" require a prior all-clear (sentence 1), so 3 must follow 1 and close the paragraph.
Sequence: 4 – 2 – 1 – 3. Key in 4213.