VA10301

Importance of Verbal Ability

• Appears in CAT , XAT , SNAP, IIFT etc. • Tests student’s command of the language, ability

to comprehend the language and draw logical conclusions

• Questions of various types– Coherence-Jumbles/Para completion/Summary– Vocabulary-Antonym/Synonym/Homonym/FIB/

Confusables/Analogy– Sentence Correction and English Usage– Critical Reasoning

Rough distribution of questions in major MBA exams

CAT 11(Sec 2 Total Qs-20/30)

XAT2012 (Total Qs-32)

SNAP(Total Qs-48)

RC 10 9 6

VOCAB 2 7 15

GRAM/SC/EU 3 2 18

COHERENCE 5 3 1

REASONING - 11 8

(The number of questions from different areas varies from year to year.)

Sample Questions - Type 1Directions for Questions: Each sentence below has two blanks. Under each sentence four pairs of words are given as choice. Choose the pair for each blank that best fits the meaning

1. We never believed that he would resort to ________ in order to achieve his goal; we always regarded him as a _______ man.

(1)charm, insincere (2) logic, honourable(3)subterfuge, honest (4) deceit, unscrupulous

2. In eighth century Japan, people who _______ wasteland were rewarded with official ranks as part of an effort to overcome the shortage of ______ fields.

(1) reclaimed, domestic (2) located, desirable(3) conserved, forested (4) cultivated, arable

Sample Questions – Type 2

Directions for Questions of Type 2: In each question, there are five sentences. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicized and highlighted. From the italicized and highlighted words, select the most appropriate words (A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words, which may be selected to complete correctly the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the most appropriate one.

Sample Questions – Type 2Question 11. Anita wore a beautiful broach (A)/brooch (B) on the lapel of her jacket.2. If you want to complain about the amenities in your neighbourhood,

please meet your councillor (A)/ counsellor (B).3. I would like your advice (A)/advise (B) on which job I should choose.4. The last scene provided a climactic (A)/climatic (B) ending to the film.5. Jeans that flair (A)/flare (B) at the bottom are in fashion these days.

(1) BABAA (2) BABAB (3) BAAAB (4) ABABA

Question 21. She managed to bite back the ironic (A)/caustic (B) retort on the lip of

her tongue. 2. He gave an impassioned and valid (A)/cogent (B) plea for judicial reform.3. I am not adverse (A)/averse (B) to helping out. 4. The coupe (A)/coup (B) broke away as the train climbed the hill. 5. They heard the bells peeling (A)/pealing (B) far and wide. (1) BBABA (2) BBBAB (3) BAABB (4) ABBAA

Sample Questions – Type 3Directions for Questions 5-6: In each question, the word given at the top is used in four different ways, numbered (1) to (4). Choose the option in which the usage of the word is INCORRECT or INAPPROPRIATE

Question 1: EAT 1. We eat, so that we may live.2. Water pours through the roof, encouraging the rot to eat away the interior of

the house.3. Medical expenses eat out a major part of my income.4. Ulcers occur when the natural acids in stomach eat into the lining of the

stomach.

Question 2:ANGEL5. Mother Teresa was an angel of the modern age.6. People believe that AtalBehari Vajpayee is in the side of the angels, when it

comes to peace talks.7. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.8. Nurses are angels to those in distress

Sample Questions – Type 4Directions for Questions:Choose the pair of words that are most similar to the original pair

Question 1: CHIVALRY : LADY1. Loyalty : Master2. Royalty : Authority3. Salary : Clerk4. Salute : Major

Question 2: BEGGAR : CADGE1. Carpenter : Wood2. Book : Teacher3. Surgeon : Scalpel4. Liar : Untruth

Sample Questions – Type 5Directions for Questions: From the options identify the closest meaning of the underlined idioms.

Question 1:In the armed forces, it is considered a great privilege to die in harness.

1. Pain and suffering2. Die on the battlefield3. Die while still working4. Die with honour

Question 2: So far as hazards of pollution are concerned the traffic policemen bear the brunt.

5. Suffer the most.6. Are exposed to the danger.7. Face the consequences.8. Have to run the risk.

Sample Questions – Type 6Directions for Question: The question below has a set of four jumbled sentences which when properly arranged form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the four given choices.

A. Very specific niches, segmentations, and market focus of this sort have always been a way of getting good results.

B. The secret is that he is focusing on outdoors and casual wear – which people are inclined to buy because it is less susceptible to fashion and therefore longer lasting.

C. While there is overcapacity in retailing and most corporations are shedding or closing stores, Wayne Badovinus is planning to open more Eddie Baver Inc. stores.

D. He is also focusing on married couples in their upper forties. (1) CBDA (2) ADBC (3) CABD (4) ABDC

Sample Questions – Type 7Directions for Question: Arrange the sentences A, B, C and D to form a logical sequence between sentences 1 and 6. Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the four given choices.

1. One of the obstacles to the full development of talent in our society is that we still have not achieved full equality of opportunity.

A. If he was born to rank and the wealth, he had access to a good education.

B. In stratified societies, the amount of education received by a child depends upon his status in the society.

C. If he was born in the lower strata, he usually did not.D. In this way, the education system confirmed and held in place

differences in status which were hereditarily determined. 6. Thus was the class war, as well as other wars, won on the playing fields

of Eton.

(1) ABCD (2) BACD (3) ABDC (4) DCAB

Sample Questions – Type 8Directions for Questions: The following questions have a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.

Sample Questions – Type 8Question 1: The audiences for crosswords and Sudoku, understandably, overlap greatly, but there are differences, too. A crossword attracts a more literary person, while Sudoku appeals to a keenly logical mind. Some crossword enthusiasts turn up their noses at sudoku because they feel it lacks depth. A good crossword requires vocabulary, knowledge, mental flexibility and sometimes even a sense of humour to complete. It touches numerous areas of life and provides an “Aha” or two along the way.1. Sudoku, on the other hand, is just a logical exercise, each one similar to the

last.2. Sudoku, incidentally, is growing faster in popularity than crosswords, even

among the literati.3. Sudoku, on the other hand, can be attempted and enjoyed even by children.4. Sudoku, however, is not exciting in any sense of the term.

Sample Questions – Type 8Question 2:Most firms consider expert individuals to be too elitist, temperamental, egocentric, and difficult to work with. Force such people to collaborate on a high-stakes project and they just might come to fisticuffs. Even the very notion of managing such a group seems unimaginable. So most organizations fall into default mode, setting up project teams of people who get along nicely.1. The result, however, is disastrous. 2. The result is mediocrity.3. The result is creation of experts who then become elitists.4. Naturally, they drive innovations.

Sample Questions – Type 9Directions for Questions:Four alternative summaries are given below each text. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the text.

Sample Questions – Type 9Question 1: You seemed at first to take no notice of your school-fellows, or rather to set yourself against them because they were strangers to you. They knew as little of you as you did of them; this would have been the reason for their keeping aloof from you as well, which you would have felt as a hardship. Learn never to conceive a prejudice against others because you know nothing of them. It is bad reasoning, and makes enemies of half the world. Do not think ill till they behave ill to you; and then strive to avoid the faults which you see in them. This will disarm their hostility sooner than pique or resentment or complaint.1. The discomfort you felt with your school fellows was because both sides knew little

of each other. You should not complain unless you find others prejudiced against you and have attempted to carefully analyze the faults you have observed in them.

2. The discomfort you felt with your school fellows was because both sides knew little of each other. Avoid prejudice and negative thoughts till you encounter bad behaviour from others, and then win them over by shunning the faults you have observed.

3. You encountered hardship amongst your school fellows because you did not know them well. You should learn to make enemies because of your prejudices irrespective of their behaviour towards you.

4. You encountered hardship amongst your school fellows because you did not know them well. You should learn to not make enemies because of your prejudices unless they behave badly with you.

Sample Questions – Type 9Question 2: The human race is spread all over the world, from the polar regions to the tropics. The people of whom it is made up eat different kinds of food, partly according to the kind of food which their country produces. In hot climates, meat and fat are not much needed; but in the Arctic regions they seem to be very necessary for keeping up the heat of the body. Thus, in India, people live chiefly on different kinds of grains, eggs, milk, or sometimes fish and meat. In Europe, people eat more meat and less grain. In the Arctic regions, where no grains and fruits are produced, the Eskimo and other races live almost entirely on meat and fish.1. Food eaten by people in different regions of the world depends on the climate

and produce of the region, and varies from meat and fish in the Arctic to predominantly grains in the tropics.

2. Hot climates require people to eat grains while cold regions require people to eat meat and fish.

3. In hot countries people eat mainly grains while in the Arctic, they eat meat and fish because they cannot grow grains.

4. While people in Arctic regions like meat and fish and those in hot regions like India prefer mainly grains, they have to change what they eat depending on the local climate and the local produce.

Sample Questions – Type 10Directions for Questions:Read the two short passages given below and answer the following:

Sample Questions – Type 10Question 1: 3 Airlines, IA, JA and SA – operate on the Delhi – Mumbai route. To increase the number of seats sold, SA reduced its fares and this was emulated by IA and JA immediately. The general belief was that the volume of air travel between Delhi and Mumbai would increase as a result.

Which of the following, if true, would add credence to the general belief?

1. Increase in profitability of the three airlines.2. Extension of the discount scheme to other routes.3. A study that shows that air travellers in India are price-conscious.4. A study that shows that as much as 80% of air-travel in India is company-

sponsored.

Sample Questions – Type 10Question 2: 3 Developed countries have made adequate provisions for social security for senior citizens. State insurers (as well as private ones) offer medicare and pension benefits to people who can no longer earn. In India, with the collapse of the joint family system, the traditional shelter of the elderly has disappeared. And a State faced with a financial crunch is not in a position to provide social security. So, it is advisable that the working population give serious thought to building a financial base for itself.

Which one of the following, if it were to happen, weakens the conclusion drawn in the above passage the most?

1. The investible income of the working population, as a proportion of its total income, will grow in the future.

2. The insurance, sector is under developed and trends indicate that it will be extensively privatized in the future.

3. India is on a path of development that will take it to a developed country status, with all its positive and negative implications.

4. If the working population builds a stronger financial base, there will be a revival of the joint family system.

Sample Questions – Type 11Directions for Questions:Each of the questions below has a set of sequentially ordered statements. Each statement can be classified as one of the following:

Facts, which deal with the pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification (the answer option indicates such a statement with an ‘F’).

Inferences, which are conclusions drawn about the unknown, on the basis of the known (the answer option indicates such a statement with an ‘I’).

Judgements, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations and occurrences in the past, the present or the future (the answer option indicates such a statement with a ‘J’).

Select the answer option that best describes the set of statements

Sample Questions – Type 11Question 1:1. According to all statistical indications, the SarvaShikshaAbhiyan has managed

to keep pace with its ambitious goals.2. The Mid-day Meal Scheme has been a significant incentive for the poor to

send their little ones to school, thus establishing the vital link between healthy bodies and healthy minds.

3. Only about 13 million children in the age group of 6 to 14 years are out of school.

4. The goal of universalisation of elementary education has to be a pre-requisite for the evolution and development of our country.

(1) IIFJ (2) JIIJ (3) IJFJ (4) IJFI

Sample Questions – Type 11Question 2:1. We should not be hopelessly addicted to an erroneous belief that corruption

in India is caused by the crookedness of Indians.2. The truth is that we have more red tape – we take eighty-nine days to start a

small business, Australians take two. 3. Red tape leads to corruption and distorts a people’s character. 4. Every red tape procedure is a point of contact with an official, and such

contacts have the potential to become opportunities for money to change hands.

(1) JFIF (2) JFJJ (3) JIJF (4) JFJI

Sample Questions – Type 12Directions for Questions:In each question, there are five sentences or parts of sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence (s) or part (s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage. Then, choose the most appropriate option.Question 11. When I returned to home, I began to read.2. Everything I could get my hand on about Israel.3. That same year Israel’s Jewish Agency sent4. A Shaliach a sort of recruiter to Minneapolis.5. I became one of his most active devotees.(1) 3 and 5 (2) 3 only (3) 5 only (4) 3, 4 and 5Question21. So once an economy is actually in recession2. The authorities can, in principle, move the economy3. Out of slump – assuming hypothetically4. That they know how to – by a temporary stimuli.5. In the longer term, however, such policies have no affect on the overall

behavior of the economy.(1) 2 and 5 (2) 2, 3 and 5 (3) 3 and 4 (4) 2 only

Sample Questions – Type 13Directions for Questions:In each question below, either part or all of the sentence is underlined. The sentence is followed by four ways of writing the underlined part. Answer choice (1) repeats the original, the other answer choices vary. If you think that the original phrasing is the best choice select option (1). If you think one of the other answer choices is the best, select that choice.

Sample Questions – Type 13Question 1:While some academicians believe that business ethics should be integrated into every business course, others say that students will take ethics seriously only if it would be taught as a separately required course.1. Only if it would be taught as a separately required course.2. Only if it is taught as a separately required course.3. If it is taught only as a course required separately.4. If it was taught only as a separately and required course.

Question 2Using a Doppler ultrasound device, foetal heartbeats can be detected by the twelfth week of pregnancy.5. Using a Doppler ultrasound device, foetal heartbeats can be detected by the

twelfth week of pregnancy.6. Foetalheartbeats can be detected by the twelfth week of pregnancy, using a

Doppler ultrasound device.7. Detecting foetal heartbeats by the twelfth week of pregnancy, a physician

can use a Doppler ultrasound device.8. By the twelfth week of pregnancy, foetal heartbeats can be detected using a

Doppler ultrasound device by a physician.