CAT 2018 Slot 1 — VARC Question 31
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.
- Impartiality and objectivity are fiendishly difficult concepts that can cause all sorts of injustices even if transparently implemented.
- It encourages us into bubbles of people we know and like, while blinding us to different perspectives, but the deeper problem of ‘transparency’ lies in the words “…and much more”.
- Twitter’s website says that “tweets you are likely to care about most will show up first in your timeline…based on accounts you interact with most, tweets you engage with, and much more.”
- We are only told some of the basic principles, and we can’t see the algorithm itself, making it hard for citizens to analyse the system sensibly or fairly or be convinced of its impartiality and objectivity.
Answer & solution
Answer: 1324
Easy
Four-sentence rearrangement. Identify the general opening statement, then track the Twitter example and the pronoun "It". Note the quoted phrase "...and much more" which is introduced in one sentence and analysed in another — that fixes a tight pair.
Find the opener. Sentence 1 states the abstract theme: "Impartiality and objectivity are fiendishly difficult concepts..." It sets up the two ideas (impartiality, objectivity) that the rest of the paragraph illustrates, so it opens.
1 to 3. Sentence 3 gives the concrete example — Twitter's website quote ending "...and much more." This is the illustration of the abstract opener, so 3 follows 1.
The 3 to 2 link. Sentence 2 opens with "It encourages us into bubbles..." — "It" is the Twitter timeline algorithm just described in 3. Crucially, 2 then says "the deeper problem of 'transparency' lies in the words '...and much more'" — quoting the exact phrase from 3. So 2 must follow 3.
2 to 4 (closer). Sentence 4 explains that we are "only told some of the basic principles" and "can't see the algorithm itself," making it hard to be "convinced of its impartiality and objectivity." This unpacks the "and much more" problem raised in 2 and loops back to the opener's keywords, closing the paragraph. Order: 1–3–2–4.
The coherent order is 1324.