CAT Questions | CAT Word Usage Questions

The question is from CAT Word Usage. Word Usage for Verbal Ability for CAT. Word Usage questions that appear in the verbal section of CAT look for the correct usage of words in a sentence. Have a look at this question from Word Usage. Solve CAT Questions from Word Usage to get more practice and 2IIMs CAT questions bank provides you with CAT questions that can help you gear for CAT Exam .

Question 18: The notion that consumers are logical decision-makers with complete insight into the factors determining the choices they make is simplistic (A)/vapid (B).

A shopper’s mind is not a clean slate. Information and experience are refracted (A)/retracted (B) through the lens of belief.

Information that’s contrary (A)/inconsistent (B) with those beliefs is likely to be rejected.

Even experience is malleable (A)/intractable (B). For many, the same glass of wine tastes better when poured from a $100 bottle than from a $10 bottle.

1. AABA
2. BAAB
3. BAAA
4. ABAB

Explanatory Answer

Method of solving this CAT Question from Word Usage:

Let us look at the sentences in order:

Sentence 1- The notion that consumers are logical decision-makers with complete insight into the factors determining the choices they make is simplistic (A)/vapid (B).

Vapid means uninspired or insipid. Simplistic is also possible here. Let us look at the rest of the sentences to confirm our choice.

Sentence 2- A shopper’s mind is not a clean slate. Information and experience are refracted (A) /retracted (B) through the lens of belief.

‘Refracted’ is the right choice here, as the sentence refers to the “lens� of belief. That is, any information and experience a shopper has is colored by his beliefs. ‘Retracted’ meaning ‘taken back’ does not make sense here.

Sentence 3- Information that’s contrary (A)/inconsistent (B) with those beliefs is likely to be rejected.

‘Inconsistent’, not ‘contrary’, is the right choice here. Contrary is normally followed by ‘to’ whereas ‘inconsistent’ is followed by ‘with’.

Sentence 4- Even experience is malleable (A)/intractable (B). For many, the same glass of wine tastes better when poured from a $100 bottle than from a $10 bottle.

When the same wine is poured from a $100 bottle, it tastes “better�. So ‘malleable’, in the sense of being moldable or changeable, is the right choice for this blank. ‘Intractable’ or rigid is the exact opposite of what the author wants to convey.

So to confirm the choice for the first sentence- we see that the only option with the choices ABA for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sentences is (a). So the correct answer choice is (a) AABA

Hence, the answer is AABA

Choice A is the correct answer.