Verbal Practice Exercise-03

Inference:

Arguing that there was no trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages because there are no written records of such trade is like arguing that the Yeti, an apelike creature supposedly existing in the Himalayas, does not exist because there have been no scientifically confirmed sightings. A verifiable sighting of the Yeti would prove that the creature does exist, but the absence of sightings cannot prove that it does not.

1. Which one of the following best expresses the point of the argument?

(A) Evidence for the existence of trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages is, like evidence for the existence of the Yeti, not scientifically confirmed.
(B) In order to prove that in the early Middle Ages there was trade between Europe and East Asia it is necessary to find both Asian and European evidence that such trade existed.
(C) That trade between Europe and East Asia did not exist in the early Middle Ages cannot be established simply by the absence of a certain sort of evidence that this trade existed.
(D) The view that there was trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages can only be disproved by showing that no references to this trade exist in surviving records.
(E) There is no more evidence that trade between Europe and East Asia existed in the early Middle Ages than there is that the Yeti exists.

As many as 98,000 people die each year due to medical error. In a campaign to reduce lethal errors, thousands of hospitals introduced six key changes, including rapid-response teams, re-checks of patient medication, and new guidelines for preventing infection. The campaign estimated that, over an 18-month period, more than 100,000 lives were saved as a direct result of the program.

2. Which of the following can be most properly inferred from the above statements?

A) Doctors and nurses should be more careful when doing their jobs.
b) The campaign saved all of the people who otherwise would have died due to medical error in that time period.
c) In the future, no one will die because of medical error.
d) If the campaign had not been implemented, more than 100,000 people might have died during the 18-month period due to medical error.
e) The key changes initiated by the campaign will continue to be implemented in the future.

The public often protests when an unregulated service industry is found to be corrupt. However, regulation often leads to increased costs for the consumer. Fewer companies survive in a regulated market, leading to decreased competition and higher prices. The public then responds negatively to the increased costs of these services.

3. The statements above best support which of the following?

A.Service industries should not be regulated.
B.The public should not protest unregulated services.
C.Only unregulated services are subject to public protest.
D.The public is sometimes the cause of its own complaints.
E.Decreased competition always leads to increased prices.

The Starbeans cafe has recently hired a new manager. The manager, within a few days of joining, made some drastic changes as a result of which the number of people visiting Starbeans everyday fell by almost 40%. However the revenue during this same period almost doubled.

4. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain how the revenues of Starbeans increased despite the falling footfalls?

(A) The manager appointed a new coffee bean supplier who charges much lower rates than did the earlier supplier, resulting in substantial cost savings.
(B) The manager changed the interior of the cafe, making the seats much more comfortable than the earlier seats and adding more colour to the walls.
(C) The manager’s monthly salary is directly linked to the revenue; the more the revenue the more salary he gets.
(D) The manager increased the average price of every item on the menu, in some cases even doubling the original price
(E) The manager fired some of the staff, thereby cutting down Starbean’s salary cost by half.

False chicory’s taproot is always one half as long as the plant is tall. Furthermore, the more rain false chicory receives, the taller it tends to grow. In fact, false chicory plants that receive greater than twice the average rainfall of the species’ usual habitat always reach above-average heights for false chicory.

5. If the statements above are true, then which one of the following must also be true?

(A) If two false chicory plants differ in height, then it is likely that the one with the shorter taproot has received less than twice the average rainfall of the species’ usual habitat.

(B) If a false chicory plant has a longer-than average taproot, then it is likely to have received more than twice the average rainfall
of the species’ usual habitat.

(C) It is not possible for a false chicory plant to receive only the average amount of rainfall of the species’ usual habitat and be of above average height.

(D) If the plants in one group of false chicory are not taller than those in another group of false chicory, then the two groups must have
received the same amount of rainfall.

(E) If a false chicory plant receives greater than twice the average rainfall of the species’ usual habitat, then it will have a longer taproot than that of an average-sized false chicory plant.

An increase in blood flow and a reduction in the resting heart rate lower the occurrence of hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, a medical condition in which blood pressure is chronically elevated. Persistent hypertension is one of the risk factors for strokes and heart attacks. A regimen of regular walking can assist some people in greatly increasing their blood flow and significantly decreasing their resting heart rate.

6. Which of the following can be correctly inferred from the statements above?

A) Individuals who walk on a regular basis do not run any risk of developing hypertension.
B) Individuals who do not walk on a regular basis run a high risk of developing hypertension.
C) Walking is the most effective method for increasing blood flow and decreasing a resting heart rate.
D) A program of regular walking for some people can lower a risk factor for strokes.
E) Only regular walking is necessary to lower the risk of heart attacks.

A certain viral infection is widespread among children, and about 30 percent of children infected with the virus develop middle ear infections. Antibiotics, although effective in treating bacterial infections, have no effect on the virus. Yet when middle ear infections in children infected with the virus are treated with antibiotics, the ear infections often clear up.

7. Which one of the following most helps to explain the success of the treatments with antibiotics?

(A) Although some types of antibiotics fail to clear up certain infections, other types of antibiotics might provide effective treatment for those infections.

(B) Children infected with the virus are particularly susceptible to bacteria that infect the middle ear.

(D) Most viral infections are more difficult to treat than are most bacterial infections.

(E) Among children not infected with the virus, fewer than 30 percent develop middle ear infections.

Lathyrism, a debilitating neurological disorder caused by the consumption of the legume Lathyrus sativus, is widespread among the domestic animals of some countries. Attempts to use rats to study Lathyrism have generally failed. Rats that ingested Lathyrus sativus did not produce the symptoms associated with the disorder.

8. Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) The physiology of rats is radically different from that of domestic animals.
(B) The rats did not consume as much Lathyrus sativus as did the domestic animals that contracted Lathyrism.
(C) Not all animal species are equally susceptible to Lathyrism.
(D) Most of the animals that can contract Lathyrism are domestic.
(E) Laboratory conditions are not conducive to the development of Lathyrism.

Science, because people engage in it, is a socially embedded activity. It progresses by hunch, vision, and intuition. Much of its change through time does not record a closer approach to absolute truth, but the alternation of the cultural contexts that influence it so strongly. Facts are not pure and unsullied bits of information— culture influences what we see and how we see it. Theories, moreover, are not inexorable inductions from facts. The most creative theories are often imaginative visions imposed upon facts; the source of imagination is also strongly cultural.

9. The author implies that those who rely on scientific results should

a) realize that science relies on imagination to approach absolute truth
b) insist on pure and unsullied facts rather than on theories
c) understand that theories are frequently strict inductions from facts
d) consider the cultural biases of scientists
e) reject the imaginative visions imposed on facts

In speech, when words or sentences are ambiguous, gesture and tone of voice are used to indicate the intended meaning. Writers, of course, cannot use gesture or tone of voice and must rely instead on style; the reader detects the writer’s intention from the arrangement of words and sentences.

10. Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) The primary function of style in writing is to augment the literal meanings of the words and sentences used.
(B) The intended meaning of a piece of writing is indicated in part by the writer’s arrangement of words and sentences.
(C) It is easier for a listener to detect the tone of a speaker than for a reader to detect the style of the writer.
(D) A writer’s intention will always be interpreted differently by different readers.
(E) The writer’s arrangement of words and sentences completely determines the aesthetic value of his or her writing.

Historically, monetary systems have developed only in population centers with marketplaces. Through the fourth century B.C., Mesopotamian cities engaged in trade, but had never had marketplaces. By that period, however, Greek cities all had marketplaces, or agorae. The Greek cities’ agorae were centrally located and goods were traded there either for money or for commodities.

11. If all of the statements in the passage are true, then which one of the following must also be true?

(A) In the fourth century B.C., Greek cities were the only population centers with monetary systems.
(B) The development of monetary systems has historically led to the development of marketplaces.
(C) In the fourth century B.C., the Greeks and the Mesopotamians traded with each other.
(D) After the fourth century B.C., Mesopotamian cities had marketplaces and monetary systems.
(E) The Mesopotamian cities of the fourth century B.C. did not have monetary systems.

An instructor presented two paintings to a class. She said that the first had hung in prestigious museums but the second was produced by an unknown amateur. Each student was asked which painting was better. Everyone selected the first. The instructor later presented the same two paintings in the same order to a different class. This time she said that the first was produced by an unknown amateur but the second had hung in prestigious museums. In this class, everyone said that the second painting was better.

12. The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

(A) Most of the students would not like any work of art that they believed to have been produced by an unknown amateur.
(B) None of the claims that the instructor made about the paintings was true.
(C) Each of the students would like most of the paintings hanging in any prestigious museum.
(D) In judging the paintings, some of the students were affected by what they had been told about the history of the paintings.
(E) Had the instructor presented the paintings without telling the students anything about them, almost all of the students would have judged them to be roughly equal in artistic worth.

Consultant: Most workers do not have every item they produce judged for quality, but each piece a freelance writer authors is evaluated. That is why freelance writers produce such high quality work.

13. The consultant’s statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

(A) A piece authored by a freelance writer is generally evaluated more strictly than the majority of items most workers produce.
(B) By having every piece of their work evaluated, some workers are caused to produce high quality work.
(C) No other workers produce higher quality work than do freelance writers.
(D) Only freelance writers have every item they produce evaluated for quality.
(E) Some workers produce high-quality work in spite of the fact that not every item they produce is judged for quality.

Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite minted in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

14. The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world’s only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.

(B) In the 1790s, France’s government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France’s need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government’s attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.

15. Many managers of mutual funds proclaim that they have been able to generate consistently higher rates of return on their investments than the general stock market bu buying shares of undervalued companies. Classical economic theory, however, proposes the “efficient capital markets hypothesis”, which proposes that stock prices accurately reflect the value of the underlying investments, incorporating all information available to the public. if the efficient capital markets hypothesis is correct, then it should be expected that_____________.

A) mutual fund managers, in order to compete with each other, will bid up the prices of certain stocks beyond their true values

B) mutual fund managers use insider information, an illegal practice, to generate higher rates of return than the general stock market

C) stock price will rise over time

D) given public information alone, companies cannot reliably be labeled undervalued or overvalued relative to to the general stock market

E) some mutual fund managers are better than others at generating a higher rate of return on investments

Breaking news shows that last year median home prices rose by 3.5%. This is only the second increase in the last 5 years.

16. Which of the following can be inferred from the argument above?

A. Median home prices dropped in 3 out of the last 5 years.
B. Homes today cost less than what they did 5 years back.
C. More homes were sold last year than 2 years prior.
D. 5 Years ago, home prices rose across the board for major home segments.
E. More high-end homes were sold last year than 2 years prior.
F. Median home prices rose at-least once in the last 5 years.

While FIFA world ranking may be imperfect, it is the only official measure of relative strength of soccer nations. However, since 1992, FIFA rankings have been a poor indicator of world cup success. In fact Germany, who was tipped to be the winner in 1996 failed to clear even the first round.

17. If the above information is true, which of the following statement MUST also be true?

A. Before 1992, FIFA rankings were an excellent indicator of the world success.
B. There is no official measure that can rank the relative strength of soccer nations better than FIFA rankings.
C. Prior to 1992, FIFA rankings were a better indicator of the world cup success.
D. FIFA rankings would have been a better indicator of world cup success if the rankings were perfected.
E. No team that was tipped to win the world cup by FIFA based on its rankings has actually gone to win the world cup.
F. FIFA should improve the rankings to make them more useful.
G. A team’s strength on paper is not a guarantee of its success in the field.

Last week, gasoline prices averaged $3.14 a gallon in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up 2.9% from December 27, 2010. On February 21 2008, when crude oil price/barrel touched triple digits for the first time in history, retail gasoline prices in the U.S. were at $3.13 a gallon.

18. Which of the following is inferred from the argument above? (Indicate all that apply)

I. Crude oil prices today are higher than what they were on February 21, 2008.
II. Crude oil prices reached triple digits last week.
III. Crude oil price in 2007 was less than $100.
IV. Crude oil price on December 27, 2010 was lower than that last week.
V. Gasoline price on December 27, 2010 was lower than gasoline price on February 21, 2008.

Google Inc. made a major change to its powerful search engine in order to reduce the appearance of what it calls “low-quality’ websites in search results. The move comes after months of criticism from a few technology-industry insiders and an acknowledgment by Google last month that it “can and should do better” to beat back sites that game its system to rise up in search results but offer users little value.

19. If the above information is true, which of the following MUST also be true?

A. A lot of low quality websites are able to game Google’s search algorithm
B. Criticism from technology industry insiders has forced Google to change its search algorithm
C. Low quality websites do not add much value to the users. More Higher quality sites will be higher up in Google rankings than are today.
D. Some low-quality sites that are able to game the system today will not be able to game the system in the future once the major change is completely executed.
E. Other search engines are expected will make similar changes once Google’s changes are successful.

Of all the times for the U.S. to be discouraging domestic production of oil and natural gas, right now might be the worst. Libya’s descent into chaos is fueling a rapid rise in oil prices, and unrest in other oil-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa has led some analysts to predict unprecedented oil-price spikes may be looming.

20. If the above information is true, which of the following MUST also be true? (Indicate all that apply)

I. The oil prices at present are the highest of what they have been in the last few decades.
II. Libya is a major oil producing country.
III. If US allows oil domestic oil production, it will be able to avoid any further price increase.
IV. Discouraging oil production now is likely to lead to a further increase in oil price in US.
V. Unrest in oil producing countries in Middle East has impacted overall oil production.
VI. The oil price increments that are predicted by analysts my be larger than those in the recent past.

Mainframe computing was the cornerstone of computing and was used for all sorts of tasks from military control to word processing. it had proven to be cost effective, efficient, and fit for most tasks. However, 20 years back, personal computing took the computing world by storm and has now replaced mainframe computing from all walks of life, enjoying the same success that mainframe computing once did.

21. Which of the following is inferred from the argument above?

A. Technological inventions have a history of disrupting the dominant market force and replacing it with the next wave.
B. Every computing technology, however successful and cost effective will eventually be disrupted.
C. The time to disrupt computing technology has been reducing with each subsequent disruption.
D. It is not necessary that a computing technology that has been a dominant force in one era, will continue to dominate the computing landscape forever.
E. A long standing dominant technology will only be replaced by a technology that is at least as good as or batter than the technology that is displacing in all aspects.

It is certainly true that the internet alone will not foment a revolution. Few have ever argued that it could. But the extent to which it can help, or even hinder, democratic movements remains hotly contested. And far from clarifying matters, the dramatic events in the Arab world caused by use of internet that have promoted and hindered democracy have fed both sides of the debate.

22. If the above information is true, which of the following MUST also be true? (Indicate all that apply)

I. There is more doubt about the role of internet in aiding democratic movements today than it was in the past.
II. There is no clear consensus on whether intemet promotes or hinders democratic moments.
III. In Arab world, the internet has helped those who want to promote democratic moments and those who want to hinder the same.
IV. The events in the Arab world have accentuated the confusion regarding the role of internet in a democracy.
V. The best way to promote democracy is to allow the internet to be driven by people’s view rather than by political power wielded by governments.

Answer Sheet:

1. C
2. D
3. D
4. D
5. E
6. D
7. B
8. C
9. D
10. B
11. E
12. D
13. B
14. B
15. D
16. F
17. B
18. III & IV
19. C
20. IV & VI
21. D
22. II & III