CAT 2023 Slot 3 · VARC · Question 17

CAT 2023 Slot 3 previous year question on Sentence Completion and Insertion, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Sentence Completion and InsertionVerbal AbilityMultiple choiceMedium

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence: For theoretical purposes, arguments may be considered as freestanding entities, abstracted from their contexts of use in actual human activities.

Paragraph: ____(1)____. An argument can be defined as a complex symbolic structure where some parts, known as the premises, offer support to another part, the conclusion. Alternatively, an argument can be viewed as a complex speech act consisting of one or more acts of premising (which assert propositions in favor of the conclusion), an act of concluding, and a stated or implicit marker ("hence", "therefore") that indicates that the conclusion follows from the premises. ____(2)____. The relation of support between premises and conclusion can be cashed out in different ways: the premises may guarantee the truth of the conclusion, or make its truth more probable; the premises may imply the conclusion; the premises may make the conclusion more acceptable (or assertible). ____(3)____. But depending on one's explanatory goals, there is also much to be gained from considering arguments as they in fact occur in human communicative practices. ____(4)____.

  1. A

    Option 2

  2. B

    Option 1

  3. C

    Option 4

  4. D

    Option 3

Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option D

The sentence after blank 3 begins 'But depending on one's explanatory goals, there is also much to be gained from considering arguments as they in fact occur in human communicative practices.' 'But... also' needs a contrasting view just before it: the missing sentence says that 'for theoretical purposes' arguments can be treated as freestanding entities 'abstracted from their contexts of use'. Theory versus actual practice is the contrast.

The paragraph before blank 3 is exactly such a theoretical treatment – definitions of argument and kinds of support – so the missing sentence sums it up before the turn to practice.

Blank 1 would introduce abstraction before the definitions.

Blank 2 would interrupt the account of arguments and the relation of support.

Blank 4 comes after the turn to practice, where a return to abstraction makes no sense.

Shortcut: 'But... also' after a blank signals a contrast. Find the missing sentence that states the opposite side.

The answer is 'Option 3', which is listed fourth. Hence, the answer is option 4.

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