CAT 2019 Slot 2 — VARC Question 26
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.
- Conceptualisations of ‘women’s time’ as contrary to clock-time and clock-time as synonymous with economic rationalism are two of the deleterious results of this representation.
- While dichotomies of ‘men’s time’, ‘women’s time’, clock-time, and caring time can be analytically useful, this article argues that everyday caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times; and both men and women can engage in these multiple-times
- When the everyday practices of working sole fathers and working sole mothers are carefully examined to explore conceptualisations of gendered time, it is found that caring time is often more focused on the clock than generally theorised.
- Clock-time has been consistently represented in feminist literature as a masculine artefact representative of a ‘time is money’ perspective.
Answer & solution
Answer: 4132
Easy
Four-sentence rearrangement on how feminist literature represents “clock-time” and the consequences of that representation. Find the sentence that introduces the core idea (the opener), then track the chain of references — “this representation” and “this article argues” are strong signposts.
Fix the opener: 4. Sentence 4 introduces the central concept with no back-reference — clock-time “has been consistently represented in feminist literature as a masculine artefact.” It defines the “representation” that the rest of the paragraph reacts to, so it must come first.
1 follows 4. Sentence 1 talks about “the deleterious results of this representation.” The phrase “this representation” points straight back to the representation just described in 4. So 1 directly follows 4: order 4–1.
3 examines the practice next. Having stated the representation (4) and its deleterious results (1), sentence 3 moves to evidence — when the everyday practices of working sole fathers and mothers are examined, caring time is “more focused on the clock than generally theorised.” This sets up the article’s counter-claim.
2 concludes. Sentence 2 delivers the thesis/conclusion — “this article argues” that caring practices incorporate a multiplicity of times that both men and women can engage in. That resolves the dichotomies raised earlier, so it closes the paragraph: 4–1–3–2.
The correct sequence is 4132.