Free Verbal Reasoning - 10 Practice Test - CAT 

A.   His left hand concealed a blackjack, his right hand groped for the torch in his pocket.
B.   The meeting was scheduled for nine O' clock, and his watch showed the time to be a quarter to nine.
C.   The man lurked in the corner, away from the glare of the light.
D.   His heart thumped in his chest, sweat beads formed themselves on his forehead, his mouth was dry.

(CAT 1998)

A.   The Director walked into the room and took a look around the class.
B.   Mitch wanted to scream,the illogicity of the entire scene struck him dumb.
C.   The managers stared at him with the look of fear that no democratic country should tolerate in its people.
D.   Mitch walked out of the room,it was his irrevocable protest against an insensible and insensitive situation.

(CAT 1998)

A.   In rejecting the functionalism in positivist organization theory, either wholly or partially, there is often a move towards a political model of organization theory.
B.   Thus the analysis would shift to the power resources possessed by different groups in the organizational structure.
C.   At the extreme, in one set of writings, the growth of administrators in the organization is held to be completely unrelated to the work to be done and to be caused totally by the political pursuit of self-Interest.
D.   The political model holds that individual interests are pursued in organizational life through the exercise of power and influence.

A.   Group decision making, however, does not necessarily fully guard against arbitrariness and anarchy, for individual capriciousness can get substituted by collusion of group members.
B.   Nature itself is an intricate system of checks and balances, meant to preserve the delicate balance between various environmental factors that affect our ecology.
C.   In institutions also, there is a need to have in place a system of checks and balances which inhibits the concentration of power in only some individuals.
D.   When human interventions after this delicate balance, the outcomes have been seen to be disastrous.    (CAT 1999)

A.   He was bone-weary and soul-weary, and found himself muttering.   "Either I can't manage this place, or it's unmanageable".
B.   To his horror, he realized that he had become the victim of an amorphous, unwitting, unconscious conspiracy to immerse him in routine work that had no significance.
C.   It was one of those nights in the office when the office clock was moving towards four in the morning and Bennis was still not through with the incredible mass of paper stacked before him.
D.   He reached for his calendar and ran his eyes down each hour, half-hour, and quarter-hour to see where his time had gone that day, the day before, the month before.

     (CAT 1999)

A.   The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States.
B.   The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them.
C.   While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favoured isolationist policies and neutrality.
D.   The complete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the allies, caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another World War.

(CAT 1998)

A.   An essay which appeals chiefly to the intellect is Francis Bacon's Of Studies'.
B.   His careful tripartite division of studies expressed succinctly in aphoristic prose demands the complete attention of the mind of the reader. C.   He considers studies as they should be; for pleasure, for self-improvement, for business.
D.   He considers the evils of excess study; laziness, affectation and preciosity.

(CAT 1998)

A.   By reasoning we mean the mental process of drawing an inference from two or more statements or going from the inference to the statements which yield that inference. B.   So logical reasoning covers those types of questions which imply drawing an inference from the problems.
C.   Logic means, if we take its original meaning, the science of valid reasoning.
D.   Clearly, for understanding arguments and for drawing the inference correctly it is necessary that we should understand the statements first.

(CAT 1998)

A.   With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B.   The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C.   Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D.   I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy I asked for a popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.

(CAT 1999)

1. Conflicting demands for resources are always voiced by different functions/departments in an organization.
A.   Every manager examines the task entrusted to him and evaluates the resources required.
B.   Availability of resources in full measure makes task achievement easy, because it reduces the effort needed to somewhat make-do.
C.   A safety cushion is built into demand for resources, to offset the adverse impact of any cut imposed by the seniors.
D.   This aspect needs to be understood as the reality.
6.   Dynamic, energetic, growth-oriented and wise management is always confronted with the inadequacy of resources with respect to one/some of the four M's (men, machines, money and materials) and the two T's (time and technology).

(CAT 1995)

1. Despite the passage of time, a large number of conflicts continue to remain alive, because the wronged parties, in reality or in their imagination, wish to take revenge upon each other, thus creating a vicious circle.
A.   At times, managers are called upon to take ruthless decisions in the long-term interests of the organization.
B.   People hurt others, at times knowingly, to teach them a lesson and, at other times, because they lack correct understanding of the other person's stand.
C.   The delegation of any power, to any person, is never absolute.
D.   Every ruthless decision will be easier to accept if the situation at the moment of committing the act is objectively analysed, shared openly and discussed rationally.
6.   If power is misused, its effects can last only for a while, since employees are bound to confront it someday, more so, the talented ones.(CAT 1995)

1. A   few years ago, hostility towards Japanese-Americans was so strong that I thought they were going to reopen the detention camps here in California.
A.   Today Asians are a success story.
B.   I cannot help making a comparison to the Anti-Jewish sentiment in Nazi Germany when Jewish people were successful in business.
C.   But do people applaud President Clinton for improving foreign trade with Asia?
D.   Now, talk about the "Arkansas-Asia connection" is broadening that hatred to include all Asian-Americans.
6.   Now blinded by jealousy, they complain that it is the Asian Americans who are reaping the wealth.

(CAT 1996)

1. It doesn't take a highly esteemed medical expert to conclude that women handle pain better than men.
A.   First the men would give birth, and then take six months to recover.
B.   As for labour pains, the human species would become extinct if men had to give birth.
C.   They do, however, make life hell for everyone else with their non-stop complaining about how bad they feel.
D.   The men in my life, including my husband and my father, would not take a Tylenol for pain if their lives depended on it.
6.   And by the time they finish sharing their excruciating experience with their buddies, all reproduction would come to a halt.
(CAT 1996)

1. Liz Taylor isn't just unlucky in love.
A.   She, and husband Larry Fortensky, will have to pay the tab-$432,600 in court costs.
B.   The duo claimed that a 1993 story about a property dispute damaged their reputations.
C.   Taylor has lost a defamation suit against the National Enquirer.
D.   She is unlucky in law too.
6.   Alas, all levels of the California court system disagreed.

     (CAT 1996)

1. Since its birth, rock has produced a long string of guitar heroes.
A.   It is a list that would begin with Chuck Berry, continue on through Hendrix, Page and Clapton.
B.   These are musicians celebrated for their sheer instrumental talent, and their flair for expensive, showy and sometimes self-indulgent solos.
C.   It would also include players of more recent vintage, like Van Halen and Living Colour's Vernon Reid.
D.   But with the advent of alternative rock and grunge, guitar heroism became uncool.
6.   Guitarists like Peter Buck and Kurt Cobain shy away from exhibitionism.

(CAT 1996)

1. Hiss was serving as head of the Endowment on Aug 3, 1948, when Whittaker Chambers reluctantly appeared before the House Un-American activities Committee.
A.   Chambers, a portly hunchbacked man with a melodramatic style, had been a Communist courier but had broken with the party in 1938.
B.   When Nixon arranged a meeting of the two men in New York, Chambers repeated his charges and Hiss his denials.
C.   Summoned as a witness, Hiss denied that he had ever been a Communist or had known Chambers.
D.   He told the Committee that among the members of a secret Communist cell in Washington during the 30s was Hiss.
6.   Then, bizarrely, Hiss asked chambers to open his mouth.    (CAT 1996)

1. Michael Jackson, clearly no admirer of long engagements, got married abruptly for the second time in three years.
A.   The latest wedding took place in a secret midnight ceremony in Sydney, Australia.
B.   It is also the second marriage for the new missus, about whom little is known.
C.   The wedding was attended by the groom's entourage and staff, according to Jackson's publicist.
D.   The bride, 37 year old Debbie Rowe, who is carrying Jackson's baby, wore white.
6.   All that is known is that she is a nurse for Jackson's dermatologist.

     (CAT 1996)