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CAT 2019 Slot 2 — VARC Question 27

Mixed PracticeEasy

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.

  1. To the uninitiated listener, atonal music can sound like chaotic, random noise.
  2. Atonality is a condition of music in which the constructs of the music do not ‘live’ within the confines of a particular key signature, scale, or mode.
  3. After you realize the amount of knowledge, skill, and technical expertise required to compose or perform it, your tune may change, so to speak.
  4. However, atonality is one of the most important movements in 20th century music.

Answer & solution

Correct answer: 2143

Answer: 2143

Solution

Easy

Four-sentence rearrangement on atonal music. Sentences carrying conjunctions or back-references (“However”, “your tune may change”) cannot open. Find the definition that starts the topic, then follow the contrast and resolution markers.

1

Fix the opener: 2. Sentence 2 defines what atonality is — music whose constructs do not live within a key, scale, or mode. It introduces the subject neutrally, with no connective, so it opens. Sentences 3 (“After you realize…”) and 4 (“However…”) clearly depend on earlier content and cannot start.

2

1 gives the naive reaction. After the definition, sentence 1 states how it strikes the “uninitiated listener” — like “chaotic, random noise.” This negative first impression is the idea the next sentence will push against: order 2–1.

3

4 contrasts with “However”. Sentence 4 uses “However” to counter that dismissive impression — atonality is “one of the most important movements in 20th century music.” The contrast word needs the negative claim in 1 before it, giving 1–4.

4

3 closes. Sentence 3 resolves the arc: once you realise the knowledge and skill atonal music demands, “your tune may change.” This payoff naturally ends the paragraph, giving 2–1–4–3.

The correct sequence is 2143.

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CAT 2019 Slot 2 VARC Q27: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given in this question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent — Solution | TheCATExam