IPMAT Indore 2024 · Verbal Ability · Question 37

The word being tested: ban — to prohibit something officially.

Checking each option:

(b) “Organic farming bans the usage of all pesticides” — a prohibition ✔

(c) “The government bans anyone with irregularities … from travelling” — the standard construction ban someone from doing something ✔

(d) “The … Act bans the marriage of those … below 18” — a legal prohibition ✔

(a) “Bans provide the community a chance to raise objections and ensure transparency” ✘

Why (a) fails. A ban forecloses an activity; it does not create an opportunity to object or make anything transparent. The sentence describes a consultation process — the word that belongs here is something like notices, public hearings or advance notifications, which genuinely do invite objections and promote transparency.

Reading it as written produces a contradiction: prohibitions are precisely what communities object to, not a mechanism for objecting.

Answer: Option 1

Shortcut. Three options use ban as a verb; one uses it as a plural noun. That grammatical outlier is the one to examine first — and it fails on meaning.

The logical test: substitute the definition. “Prohibitions provide the community a chance to raise objections” — a prohibition shuts an activity down; it does not open a channel for dissent. The sentence is describing the opposite instrument.

A useful principle for this question type: in a four-sentence usage question, the odd one out is usually either a different part of speech or a different sense of the word. Check the grammatical role before you check the meaning.