CAT 2024 Slot 1 · VARC · Question 13

CAT 2024 Slot 1 previous year question on Para Summary, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

Para SummaryVerbal AbilityMultiple choiceMedium

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be constructed - the effect of an articulation between sign and referent - but to be 'naturally' given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a 'near-universality' in this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently 'natural' visual codes are culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes reveals not the transparency and 'naturalness' of language but the depth, the habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently 'natural' recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.

  1. A
    All codes, linguistic and visual, have a natural origin but some are so widespread that they become universal. This is what hides the mechanism of coding behind signs.
  2. B
    Not all codes are natural but certain codes are naturalized and made to appear universal. Ideology aims to hide the mechanism of coding behind signs.
  3. C
    Language and visual signs are codes. However, some of the codes are so widespread that they not only seem naturally given but also hide the mechanism of coding behind the signs.
  4. D
    Learning linguistic and visual signs at an early age makes all such codes appear natural. This naturalization of codes is the effect of ideology.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

A good summary must keep three moves. First, both linguistic and visual signs are codes – constructed, never natural. Second, some codes are so widespread and learned so early that they only appear 'naturally' given; 'this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather, that the codes have been profoundly naturalized'. Third, the result: 'This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of coding which are present.'

Option 3 delivers all three in order.

Option 1 says codes 'have a natural origin' – the exact opposite of the passage, which says naturalness is only an appearance.

Option 2 says 'Not all codes are natural', which implies some genuinely are. It also turns an effect into an intention: 'Ideology aims to hide', whereas the passage says only that concealment has an ideological effect.

Option 4 says 'all such codes' appear natural (the passage limits this to certain widespread codes) and makes ideology the cause of naturalisation rather than its effect.

Shortcut: watch for options that flip the passage's direction of cause and effect. Here concealment produces an ideological effect; options that make ideology the cause or the intention are wrong.

Hence, the answer is option 3.

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