CAT 2021 Slot 2 — VARC Question 21
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
- Look forward a few decades to an invention which can end the energy crisis, change the global economy and curb climate change at a stroke: commercial fusion power.
- To gain meaningful insights, logic has to be accompanied by asking probing questions of nature through controlled tests, precise observations and clever analysis.
- The greatest of all inventions is the über-invention that has provided the insights on which others depend: the modern scientific method.
- This invention is inconceivable without the scientific method; it will rest on the application of a diverse range of scientific insights, such as the process transforming hydrogen into helium to release huge amounts of energy.
Answer & solution
Answer: 3214
Easy
This is a para-jumble. Find the broad topic sentence to open, then track demonstrative references ("this invention," "this method") that must point back to something already named. The theme is the modern scientific method as the greatest invention.
Opener: 3. Sentence 3 makes the thesis statement: "The greatest of all inventions is the über-invention... the modern scientific method." It names the central subject (the scientific method) for the first time, so it leads.
3→2 (defining the method). Sentence 2 explains how that method works: "logic has to be accompanied by asking probing questions of nature through controlled tests, precise observations and clever analysis." It elaborates the just-named scientific method, so 2 follows 3.
Pair 1→4 (example invention + its dependence). Sentence 1 introduces a concrete future invention: "Look forward a few decades to an invention... commercial fusion power." Sentence 4 then refers straight back to it: "This invention is inconceivable without the scientific method... such as the process transforming hydrogen into helium." The demonstrative "this invention" in 4 needs 1 right before it, making 14 a mandatory pair.
Assemble. Thesis (3) → what the method is (2) → illustrative invention (1) → its dependence on the method (4). Chain: 3 → 2 → 1 → 4.
The coherent order is 3214.