CAT 2024 Slot 3 · VARC · Question 17

CAT 2024 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: Taken outside the village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972, the picture captured the trauma and indiscriminate violence of a conflict that claimed, by some estimates, a million or more civilian lives.

Paragraph: The horrifying photograph of children fleeing a deadly napalm attack has become a defining image not only of the Vietnam War but the 20th century. ____(1)____. Dark smoke billowing behind them, the young subjects’ faces are painted with a mixture of terror, pain and confusion. ____(2)____. Soldiers from the South Vietnamese Army’s 25th Division follow helplessly behind. ____(3)____. The picture was officially titled “The Terror of War,” but the photo is better known by the nickname given to the naked 9-year-old at its centre: “Napalm Girl”. ____(4)____.

  1. A
    Option 4
  2. B
    Option 1
  3. C
    Option 3
  4. D
    Option 2
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

The paragraph first describes what the photograph shows – children fleeing, dark smoke, terrified faces, soldiers following behind – and then moves to the picture as an object: its official title and its nickname.

The missing sentence steps back from the visual details to the picture as a whole: where and when it was taken and what it captured. That fits blank 3, after the last visual detail (the soldiers) and before the facts about its title. 'The picture' in the missing sentence also matches 'The picture was officially titled...' that follows.

Blank 1 would interrupt the move from the photograph's fame straight into its description.

Blank 2 would split the description of the children from the soldiers behind them.

Blank 4 would add the date and place after the paragraph has already ended on the nickname.

Shortcut: in descriptive paragraphs, a sentence that summarises (what it 'captured') belongs where the description ends and commentary begins.

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

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