CAT 2022 Slot 3 — VARC Question 17
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
To defend the sequence of alphabetisation may seem bizarre, so obvious is its application that it is hard to imagine a reference, catalogue or listing without it. But alphabetical order was not an immediate consequence of the alphabet itself. In the Middle Ages, deference for ecclesiastical tradition left scholars reluctant to categorise things according to the alphabet — to do so would be a rejection of the divine order. The rediscovery of the ancient Greek and Roman classics necessitated more efficient ways of ordering, searching and referencing texts. Government bureaucracy in the 16th and 17th centuries quickened the advance of alphabetical order, bringing with it pigeonholes, notebooks and card indexes.
Answer & solution
- A
Unlike the alphabet, once the efficacy of the alphabetic sequence became apparent to scholars and administrators, its use became widespread.
- B
While adoption of the written alphabet was easily accomplished, it took scholars several centuries to accept the alphabetic sequence as a useful tool in their work.
- C
The ban on the use by scholars of any form of categorisation - but the divinely ordained one - delayed the adoption of the alphabetic sequence by several centuries.
The alphabetic order took several centuries to gain common currency because of religious beliefs and a lack of appreciation of its efficacy in the ordering of things.
Easy
This is a summary question. The passage makes two claims about alphabetical order: (1) it took a long time to catch on after the alphabet existed, and (2) the delay had two causes — religious reluctance (categorising by alphabet would reject the "divine order") and the fact that its usefulness only became apparent later (with the classics and government bureaucracy). The best summary must carry both the religious cause and the efficacy cause.
Says once its efficacy became apparent, use spread. Captures the efficacy point but drops the religious cause entirely. Incomplete.
Talks about "adoption of the written alphabet" being easy — the passage is about the sequence/ordering, not learning to write. Misreads the subject and omits the religious reason.
Mentions only the religious "ban", missing the efficacy half. Also overstates it as a formal "ban". One-sided.
"Took several centuries to gain common currency because of religious beliefs and a lack of appreciation of its efficacy." Captures both causes plus the delay. Complete and accurate.
Option D — it is the only summary that includes both the religious reluctance and the slow realisation of usefulness.