Summary: Prepare to efficiently answer CAT (Common Admission Test) Verbal Ability questions. Understand the complicated structure of this CAT exam and practise with free questions to achieve a remarkable CAT score and admission to your preferred management programme. 

Many prospective management professionals in India wish to pass the CAT (Common Admission Test). And one of the important components that can make or break your CAT score is Verbal Ability (VA). The Verbal Ability section is a subset of the CAT's Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) exam.

The number of questions on verbal reasoning in the CAT fluctuates typically between 8 and 10. These questions are available in both Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and Type In The Answer (TITA) formats. 

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Understanding CAT Verbal Ability 

The CAT Verbal Ability questions cover a wide range of topics, making this area interesting and demanding. Questions on parajumbles, sentences taken out of context in a paragraph, error correction in a given paragraph, vocabulary usage, sentence completion, analogies, and critical reasoning are likely.

Solving CAT Verbal Ability questions is similar to solving a difficult puzzles. To pass this section, you must approach every problem critically and uncover the underlying reason. To find the correct answer, stick to the facts presented on the CAT entrance exam. 

Preparing for CAT Verbal Ability 

There are no formulas to remember for verbal reasoning problems unlike certain other areas of the CAT exam. The VARC section of the CAT is heavily dependent on practise. Make studying CAT previous year question papers and CAT mock exams a routine part of your preparation if you want to excel in this section. 

Practice Makes Perfect 

As the saying goes, practise makes perfect, and this couldn't be more true with the CAT Verbal Ability. The more you practise, the more familiar you will become with the types of questions, patterns, and strategies required to answer them effectively.

Make it a point to answer as many VARC questions as possible during your CAT 2024 exam preparation. 

Mastering Verbal Ability 

The most important topic in the CAT Verbal Ability (VA) Section is without a doubt Verbal Ability. It is essential to understand the principles of the CAT Verbal Ability part and to practise thoroughly.

Furthermore, reading Verbal Ability questions from before CAT examinations with thorough clarifications can be quite helpful in honing your skills. 

Read more: How to prepare for CAT Quantitative Aptitude?

Free CAT Exam Verbal Ability Questions for Practice 

There is excellent news for individuals wishing to practise important Verbal Ability questions for the CAT Exam. Supergrads is offering you with free CAT exam verbal ability questions. With these resources, you may improve your Verbal Ability and prepare for the CAT. 

Read more: CAT Online Coaching

CAT Exam Verbal Ability Questions are provided below: 

Q1. 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:  

• 1. Restitution of artefacts to original cultures could face legal obstacles, as many Western museums are legally prohibited from disposing off their collections.  
• 2. This is in response to countries like Nigeria, which are pressurising European museums to return their precious artefacts looted by colonisers in the past.  
• 3. Museums in Europe today are struggling to come to terms with their colonial legacy, some taking steps to return artefacts but not wanting to lose their prized collections.  
• 4. Legal hurdles notwithstanding, politicians and institutions in France and Germany would now like to defuse the colonial time bombs, and are now backing the return of part of their holdings. 

Answer: 3214 

Q2. Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in the number of the sentence as your answer:  

• 1. They often include a foundation course on navigating capitalism with Chinese characteristics and have replaced typical cases from US corporates with a focus on how Western theories apply to China’s buzzing local firms.  
• 2. The best Chinese business schools look like their Western rivals but are now growing distinct in terms of what they teach and the career boost they offer.  
• 3. Western schools have enhanced their offerings with double degrees, popular with domestic and overseas students alike—and boosted the prestige of their Chinese partners.  
• 4. For students, a big draw is the chance to rub shoulders with captains of China’s private sector.  
• 5. Their business courses now largely cater to the growing demand from China Inc which has become more global, richer and ready to recruit from this sinocentric student body. 

Answer: 3 

Q3. Question 3 Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in the number of the sentence as your answer:  

• 1. A typical example is Wikipedia, where the overwhelming majority of contributors are male and so the available content is skewed to reflect their interests.  
• 2. Without diversity of thought and representation, society is left with a distorted picture of future options, which are likely to result in augmenting existing inequalities.  
• 3. Gross gender inequality in the technology sector is problematic, not only for the industry-wide marginalisation of women, but because technology designs embody the values of their makers.  
• 4. While redressing unequal representation in the workplace is a step in the right direction, broader social change is needed to address the structural inequalities embedded within the current organisation of work and employment.  
• 5. If technology merely reflects the perspectives of the male stereotype, then new technologies are unlikely to accommodate the diverse social contexts within which they operate.  

Answer: 4 

Q4. 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:  

• 1. The US has long maintained that the Northwest Passage is an international strait through which its commercial and military vessels have the right to pass without seeking Canada’s permission.  
• 2. Canada, which officially acquired the group of islands forming the Northwest Passage in 1880, claims sovereignty over all the shipping routes through the Passage.  
• 3. The dispute could be transitory, however, as scientists speculate that the entire Arctic Ocean will soon be ice-free in summer, so ship owners will not have to ask for permission to sail through any of the Northwest Passage routes.  
• 4. The US and Canada have never legally settled the question of access through the Passage, but have an agreement whereby the US needs to seek Canada’s consent for any transit. 

Answer: 2143 

Q5. Which sentence is in the passive voice? 

• a) The cat chased the mouse. 
• b) The mouse was chased by the cat. 
• c) The sun shines brightly. 
• d) She will sing a song. 

Answer: B

Q6. What is the plural form of "Cactus"? 

• a) Cacti 
• b) Cactuses 
• c) Cactus 
• d) Cactusses 

Answer: A

Q7. Choose the correct homophone: 

• a) Flower 
• b) Flour 
• c) Floor 
• d) Floar 

Answer: B

Q8. Which figure of speech is used in the phrase "The world is your oyster"? 

• a) Alliteration 
• b) Simile 
• c) Metaphor 
• d) Personification 

Answer: C

Q9. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. The human mind is wired to see patterns. Not only does the brain process information as it comes in, it also stores insights from all our past experiences. Every interaction, happy or sad, is catalogued in our memory. Intuition draws from that deep memory well to inform our decisions going forward. In other words, intuitive decisions are based on data, and not contrary to data as many would like to assume. When we subconsciously spot patterns, the body starts firing neurochemicals in both the brain and gut. These “somatic markers” are what give us that instant sense that something is right … or that it’s off. Not only are these automatic processes faster than rational thought, but our intuition draws from decades of diverse qualitative experience (sights, sounds, interactions, etc.) - a wholly human feature that big data alone could never accomplish.  

• a) Intuition is infinitely richer than big data which is based on rational thought and accomplishes more than what big data can.  
• b) Intuitions are automatic processes and are therefore faster than rational thought, and so decisions based on them are better.  
• c) Intuition draws from deep memory, and may not be related to data, but to decades of diverse qualitative experience.  
• d) Intuitions are neuro-chemical firings based on pattern recognition and draw upon a rich and vast database of experiences.  

Answer: D 

Q10. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Creativity is now viewed as the engine of economic progress. Various organizations are devoted to its study and promotion; there are encyclopedias and handbooks surveying creativity research. But this proliferating success has tended to erode creativity’s stable identity: it has become so invested with value that it has become impossible to police its meaning and the practices that supposedly identify and encourage it. Many people and organizations committed to producing original thoughts now feel that undue obsession with the idea of creativity gets in the way of real creativity. 

• a) The obsession with original thought, how it can be promoted and researched, has made it impossible for people and organizations to define the concept anymore.  
• b) The industry that has built up around researching what comprises and encourages creativity has destroyed the creative process itself.  
• c) Creativity has proliferated to the extent that is no longer a stable process, and its mutating identity has stifled the creative process.  
• d) The value assigned to creativity today has assumed such proportions that the concept itself has lost its real meaning and this is hampering the engendering of real creativity. 

Read more: CAT Exam Preparation Books

Answer: D 

In Conclusion 

CAT Verbal Ability questions are a significant component of the CAT exam, requiring critical thinking as well as a great command of language.

You can boost your probability of achieving a good CAT score and gaining admission to the management programme of your choice by dedicating time to practise and developing your skills in this section of the exam.  

So, accept the challenge, practise consistently, and approach CAT Verbal Ability problems with confidence as you embark on your path to success. 

Read more: CAT Exam Preparation at Home.