NinetynineCAT 2022 Slot 1 VARC Q20 Sentence Placement
Question 20 of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, CAT 2022 Slot 1, with CAT's official answer and a worked solution.
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide in which blank (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Having made citizens more and less knowledgeable than their predecessors, the Internet has proved to be both a blessing and a curse.
Paragraph: Never before has a population, nearly all of whom has enjoyed at a least a secondary school education, been exposed to so much information, whether in newspapers and magazines or through YouTube, Google, and Facebook. ___(1)___. Yet it is not clear that people today are more knowledgeable than their barely literate predecessors. Contemporary advances in technology offered more serious and inquisitive students access to realms of knowledge previously unimaginable and unavailable. ___(2)___. But such readily available knowledge leads many more students away from serious study, the reading of actual texts, and toward an inability to write effectively and grammatically. ___(3)___. It has let people choose sources that reinforce their opinions rather than encouraging them to question inherited beliefs. ___(4)___.
Sentence: Having made citizens more and less knowledgeable than their predecessors, the Internet has proved to be both a blessing and a curse.
Paragraph: Never before has a population, nearly all of whom has enjoyed at a least a secondary school education, been exposed to so much information, whether in newspapers and magazines or through YouTube, Google, and Facebook. ___(1)___. Yet it is not clear that people today are more knowledgeable than their barely literate predecessors. Contemporary advances in technology offered more serious and inquisitive students access to realms of knowledge previously unimaginable and unavailable. ___(2)___. But such readily available knowledge leads many more students away from serious study, the reading of actual texts, and toward an inability to write effectively and grammatically. ___(3)___. It has let people choose sources that reinforce their opinions rather than encouraging them to question inherited beliefs. ___(4)___.
- AOption 1
- BOption 2
- COption 3
- DOption 4
Answer: (D) Option 4 Sentence Placement MCQ
Solution
- The paragraph weighs the Internet's mixed effects. First comes the good: serious students gain access to knowledge. Then the bad: others drift from serious study and writing, and people pick sources that confirm their opinions.
- The sentence, 'Having made citizens more and less knowledgeable... both a blessing and a curse', is a conclusion that sums up both sides. Its 'more and less knowledgeable' also echoes the opening question of whether people are more knowledgeable than their predecessors.
- A summary belongs after all the evidence, so it goes at blank 4. At blank 3 it would split the list of harms, since 'It has let people choose sources...' continues the 'such readily available knowledge' point.
Shortcut. A 'both X and Y' wrap-up sentence usually closes the paragraph.