CAT 2020 Slot 3 — VARC Question 20
Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in the number of the sentence as your answer:
1. The logic of displaying one’s inner qualities through outward appearance was based on a distinction between being a woman and being feminine.
2. 'Appearance' became a signifier of conduct - to look was to be and conformity to the feminine ideal was measured by how well women could use the tools of the fashion and beauty industries.
3. The makeover-centric media sets out subtly and not-so-subtly, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ways to be a woman, layering these over inequalities of race and class.
4. The denigration of working-class women and women of colour often centres on their perceived failure to embody feminine beauty.
5. ‘Woman’ was considered a biological category, but femininity was a ‘process’ by which women became specific kinds of women.
Answer & solution
Answer: 3
Easy
First nail the common theme of four of the sentences, then spot the one that drifts in tense, focus, or topic. The misfit will not link by pronoun or logic to the others.
Identify the theme. Sentences 1, 2, 4 and 5 all develop one historical idea, told in the past tense: the distinction between being a woman (a biological category) and being feminine (a learned process judged by appearance).
Build the four-sentence paragraph. Sentence 1 introduces the logic of “displaying inner qualities through outward appearance” resting on the woman/feminine distinction. Sentence 5 explains that distinction — “‘Woman’ was considered a biological category, but femininity was a ‘process’.” Sentence 2 continues — “‘Appearance’ became a signifier of conduct.” Sentence 4 closes with the consequence: failure to embody this ideal led to the “denigration of working-class women and women of colour” (1–5–2–4).
Expose the misfit (3). Sentence 3 shifts to the present tense and to a different subject — “The makeover-centric media sets out… ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ways to be a woman.” It is about contemporary media, not the historical woman/feminine distinction, and breaks the chain.
The odd one out is 3.