CAT 2021 Slot 1 — VARC Question 22
Four sentences that are a part of paragraph are given below; the sentences may or may not be in the right order; create the sequence that forms a coherent paragraph.
- A popular response is the exhortation to plant more trees.
- It seems all but certain that global warming will go well above two degrees - quite how high no one knows yet.
- Burning them releases it, which is why the scale of forest fires in the Amazon basin last year garnered headlines.
- This is because trees sequester carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide.
Answer & solution
Answer: 2143
Easy
Para-jumble (TITA). Identify the topic-setting opener, then track the "response to a problem" logic and the cause-effect chain.
Opener = 2. Sentence 2 sets the problem: "It seems all but certain that global warming will go well above two degrees..." This introduces the issue the paragraph responds to, with no back-reference.
2 to 1 (problem to response). Sentence 1 — "A popular response is the exhortation to plant more trees" — is the response to the warming problem just raised. So 1 follows 2.
1 to 4 (why trees). Sentence 4 begins "This is because trees sequester carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide" — "This" explains why planting trees (sentence 1) helps. So 4 follows 1.
Closer = 3. Sentence 3 — "Burning them releases it..." — "them" = trees and "it" = the stored carbon from sentence 4. It extends the carbon idea to forest fires, closing the paragraph. So 3 is last.
The coherent sequence is 2143.