Common Admission Test (CAT) 2014 may bring with it 2 questions asking you to pick out the ‘Out of context sentence’ from a Jumbled paragraph. Choosing correct answer options to these 2 questions can improve your percentile by 12 to 14 and incorrect answer options can reduce the same by 17 to 20 in accordance with the existing pattern of negative marking in CAT.

Prof S K Agarwal, expert on Verbal Ability for CAT 2014 preparation shares the concept behind such questions which are not so difficult as they appear. In fact If we recall our childhood school days when we used to solve small puzzles, answer the riddles in fun and play, we may find that we enjoyed answering such questions which added to our stock of vocabulary as well as sharpened the question solving strategy. Had we continued with it, most probably we would have not crammed our head to study so much on this part of Verbal Ability. Nevertheless, since we have to face it, we must crack it with a good skill and understanding.

The strategy to solve this tricky question is to decode the jumbled paragraphs first and then pick out the ‘out of context sentence’. A few of the mentors who anticipate such surprises always try to gear up the aspirants for any eventuality like this and the ‘Mantra’ is versatile study pattern.

Know the structure of this question in CAT

This question appears in the same form as any random jumbled paragraph. It consists of four sentences labelled A, B, C, D, and are in a jumbled form. These four sentences when placed in a sequential order will form a coherent paragraph but one of the sentences will be out of context and will convey a different message than the other sentences taken together. An aspirant has to pick out that ‘out of context sentence’ from the jumbled group of sentences.

How to prepare and crack

Try to remember the childhood days. What were the rules you followed to pick the odd man out of the four five related words – the same rule applies but with much advanced thought process and understanding to click the right sequence.

Look at the following small examples on words and pick the odd man out of the following five words –

Explanation – Out of the above five words while 4 convey the same meaning 1 is different. All the words should convey more or less same meaning and similarly all the sentences should convey same thought process. If any sentence, word breaks the coherence it is out of context or an ‘odd man’ to be picked out. While detach, remove, unfasten, separate all are synonyms, steady doesn’t match the flow and is an odd man out. Therefore the answer option C. Steady is correct.  Similarly in case you are given the description about the process of construction of a building and in between you find a sentence that leads you to the cost and managing finance of construction, it is an out of context sentence. The process ‘how to find the word, place, sentence which is out of context’ is more or less same.

These questions may or may not carry real facts with them but what is stated in them have to be taken at their face value and answer has to be chosen accordingly. In the same manner – when you try to locate an out of context sentence you should be aware of number of things like – actions, objects, statements, whether the same idea is followed in the entire paragraph or the stand has changed. If the paragraph is all about the current state of affairs in the country; all the sentences describe it but one sentence proposes some relevant action to be taken on the issue- this sentence has got to be out of context.

How to link and nail the out of context sentence

The CAT aspirant is required to link the sentences in accordance with the information provided in the paragraph. It is necessary to ensure that the idea and action expressed in the jumbled paragraph move in the same line, any sentence expressing different idea and differing the coherent formation of the paragraph will be an out of context sentence. Hence, a paragraph fragment, in fact is a sentence in the paragraph that breaks the consistency and coherence of the paragraph. This sentence is the ‘out of context sentence’ in the paragraph as it neither expresses the coherence nor supplements to the complete thought.

Solve it with precision.

The way to recognize an out of context sentence is to read a paragraph backwards sentence by sentence. After completion of your reading following two things are to be done-

- Arrange the jumbled paragraph of 3-4 difficult sentences coherently to make it meaningful, and

- Pick out the out of context sentence which is not relevant to the string of thought in the paragraph, although that may be quite close to it.

Check out our Exclusive Forum on Parajumbles for CAT exam by CAT Verbal Expert:
Parajumble preparation for CAT exam

Let us share a few examples –

Direction-question-1 & 2 – Out of the five sentences as given below and labelled A,B,C,D.E in the question, four, when arranged properly, will form a meaningful and coherent paragraph while one of the sentences is out of context. Choose the most appropriate order of sentences out of the given options with out of context sentence 

Q.1

A. Just before leaving the court, the magistrate complained of giddiness

B. Media representatives had gathered in huge numbers at the main entrance with their cameras ready. But, police used a man

C. But before proceeding with the remand process, judicial magistrate held discussions with judicial officers in the Madras high court

D. and was taken to the Tirupur government hospital for treatment.
 
E. with his head covered as a decoy to divert the attention of the media and took the magistrate through a back entrance.
 

• E   2. C    3. B    4. A

Q.2

A. Post-acquisition Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia

B. Nokia will continue to consolidate NSN for financial reporting purposes as well as to strengthen the company

C. that was expected to be completed during the third quarter,

D. The boards of both companies have approved the deal

E. pending approval from regulatory authorities.

• D    2.A     3.B      4.B

Answers with explanation

Ans. Q.1: 2. C; Explanation– Tone of the para is narrative describing the facts without opinion. B- opens the para E follows – ‘a man with his head covered’; A – description of what happened during the proceedings and thereafter; D follows A while (C) is out of context and diverts the idea – while everything is centered about the culprit- C indicates the decision taken by the judicial magistrate looking after the case – which is a distraction from the consistent flow of similar idea.
 
Ans. Q.2: 3.B; Explanation- D-describes the beginning of the course of action followed by C and E. A concludes the para describing the result of the process. B is out of context as it transforms to other domain, probably to other paragraph depicting the idea how it will strengthen and consolidate the NSN

Understand the flow

This exercise is not possible without understanding the flow of thought and placing those jumbled sentences in a coherent manner. It is the test of the student’s versatile reading; understanding of language, writing ability based on deep stock of vocabulary, grammar and correct use of tenses.

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