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 19: Open-water swimming tends to evoke (A)/conjure (B) up images of impassioned loners silently stroking across the sea, in search of glory or transcendence.

But marathon swimming is not so much meditative as (A)/but (B) combative.

Open water swimmers contend (A)/strive (B) physically and psychologically not only with the elements but also with one another, ceaselessly, right up to the last hundredth of a second.

Though the race looks serene (A)/chaotic (B) from above, at the surface it is a scrum of windmilling arms and mind games.

1. ABAB
2. BABA
3. AABB
4. BAAA

Explanatory Answer

Method of solving this CAT Question from Word Usage:

Let us look at the sentences in order:

Let us look at each sentence in order.

Open-water swimming tends to evoke (A)/conjure (B) up images of impassioned loners silently stroking across the sea, in search of glory or transcendence.

Though evoke and conjure mean the same, the right word here is ‘conjure’ as it is followed by ‘up’ in the sentence. The word ‘evoke’ would have been directly followed by “images of…�. So the right option here is B.

But marathon swimming is not so much meditative as (A)/but (B) combative.

The grammatically correct structure is “not so much…. as….�. So the correct word option here is A.

Open water swimmers contend (A)/strive (B) physically and psychologically not only with the elements but also with one another, ceaselessly, right up to the last hundredth of a second.

Again, ‘contend’ and ‘strive’ have similar meanings but the word that fits in best in this sentence is ‘contend’, as it is followed by “with the elements� later in the sentence. One strives for or against something. The usage ‘strive with’ works only when followed by something very positive—e.g. strive with determination. Here the swimmers contend with or fight against the elements and each other.

Though the race looks serene (A)/chaotic (B) from above, at the surface it is a scrum of windmilling arms and mind games.

The second half of the sentence says the scene at the surface is a “scrum of windmilling arms and mind games�, indicating the mad scramble and chaos there. The sentence starts off with ‘though’. So we have to choose the word that is the opposite of chaos here. So the correct word option for this sentence is ‘serene’.

The right answer option is BAAA.

Hence, the answer is BAAA

Choice D is the correct answer.