Paragraph Completion or Deleted Sentences are an important part of the English section of the Common Admission Test (CAT) exam. And given the new format of the CAT, Para Completion (PC) or Deleted Sentences (DS) may well become a part of the Logical Reasoning section of the CAT, thus increasing the weightage of ‘English’ in the paper.
Paragraph completion questions are of the type in which a sentence (at the beginning or in the middle or at the end) has been deleted from the paragraph. You are given 4/5 answer options to choose from. Each answer option is a statement which talks about topics/themes discussed in the paragraph. You have to identify which answer option provides the best fit in the context of the passage.
As you can see, an understanding of what constitutes a paragraph is very critical to solving of such questions. A paragraph is defined on Wikipedia as – ‘a distinct section of a piece of writing, usually dealing with a single theme and indicated by a new line or indentation.’ Thus the important thing for us to understand is that, in good writing, each para is a separate section and should have its own distinct theme. It should have an introduction, body and a conclusion.
Introduction: This is the first section of a paragraph. It should introduce the topic at the beginning of the paragraph and give background information or provide a transition.
Body: This will follow the introduction and discuss the major idea, using facts, statements, inferences and examples.
Conclusion: This is the final section. A part of this will be missing and it will be your task to identify that part. It should summarise all the data provided in the para and also the major idea of the para.
Types of PC/DS questions
– The opening Link is missing: In these types of questions, the first sentence is missing.
– Middle Link is missing: In these types of questions, a sentence from the middle has been removed.
– Closing Link is missing : In these types of questions, the last sentence has been removed. These ones have been most popular in recent times.
For me, Para Completion is solved by the Hercule Poirot method! You have to become a detective and solve the case. Each para given in the test is a small story and you need to find how that story ends, given the clues distributed in the whole para and the characters present in the plot. Here’s how to do it.
Look out for the theme. You need to be alert for key words in the paragraph. We have taken a few questions from the previous years CAT papers to illustrate some points. Take a look at Q1, it is all about photographs and the changes in relation to photographs. Thus, the final statement should be something about the power of photographs despite the changes. In Q2, the theme is all about the lack of inventory and the answer should tackle this aspect of the matter.
Progress in order. If a concept has been discussed and a new concept is being introduced and discussed in the paragraph, then the old concept should not be a part of the para conclusion. When two or three concepts are discussed in the paragraph, the concluding line should not regress to the earlier concepts.
Tone of the author. This is extremely critical. If you are not able to judge the tone of the author, you will not know in which direction the para should go. Is the author serious? Is he being sarcastic? Is he pessimistic? If you look at Q3 below and understand that the author is saying some things in a tongue-in-cheek tone, you will realise the answer is obvious.
Summary. Please keep in mind that the last option should be a summary of the passage and should not introduce new themes for discussion.We are trying to end a discussion not to start a new one. The correct answer will not only avoid bringing in a totally new idea but also complete the paragraph most meaningfully. Any option that leaves us wanting for some more explanations can be eliminated.
Elimination. Finally the magic of elimination works as usual! If you can eliminate answer options because they are ‘out of spectrum’ or not in the same range as the para topic, nothing like it. Such options are not directly related to the context of the passage. Also on the other side, avoid options which once again present the same thoughts presented in the para in a different form. Thus these types of options only serve to present the main idea in another form. Nothing new emerges.
Reference Resources
Links to Deleted Sentences thread on PaGaLGuY,
1. https://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/thread-for-deleted-sentences-25017731
2. https://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/para-completion-for-cat-2010-25052342
3. https://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/para-completion-sentence-deletion-cat-2011-25062055
CAT questions
Q1. Nevertheless, photographs still retain some of the magical allure that the earliest Daguerreo types inspired. As objects, our photographs have changed; they have become physically flimsier as they have become more technologically sophisticated. Daguerreo produced pictures on copper plates; today many of our photographs never become tangible thins, but instead remain filed away on computers and cameras, part of the digital ether that envelops the modern world. At the same time, our patience for the creation of images has also eroded. Children today are used to being tracked from birth by digital cameras and video recorders, and they expect to see the results of their poses and performances instantly. The space between life as it is being lived and life as it is being displayed, shrinks to a mere second.
(1) Yet, despite these technical developments, photographs still remain powerful because they are reminders of the people and things we care about.
(2) Images, after all, are surrogates carried into battle by a soldier or by a traveller on holiday.
(3) Photographs, be they digital or traditional, exist to remind us of the absent, the beloved, and the dead.
(4) In the new era of the digital image, the images also have a greater potential for fostering falsehood and trickery, perpetuating fictions that seem so real, we cannot tell the difference.
(5) Anyway, human nature being what it is, little time has passed after photographys inventions became means of living life through images.
The full paragraph talks about photograph and change and option 1 talks about the change not affecting the power of photographs. This ends the discussion.
Q2. Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill. These were her assets; a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter. Then there was a teapot, in which Mma Ramotswe — the only private lady detective in Botswana — brewed red bush tea. And three mugs — one for herself, one for her secretary and one for the client. What else does a detective agency really need? Detective agencies rely on human intuition and intelligence, both of which Mma Ramotswe had in abundance.
(1) But there was also the view, which again would appear on no inventory.
(2) No inventory would ever include those, of course.
(3) She had an intelligent secretary too.
(4) She was a good detective and a good woman.
(5) What she lacked in possessions was more than made up by a natural shrewdness.
The paragraph talks about a lack of physical assets and inventories. The correct option (2) talks of inventories that are intangible.
Q3. I am sometimes attacked for imposing ‘rules.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. I hate rules. All I do is report on how consumers react to different stimuli. I may say to a copywriter, Research shows that commercials with celebrities are below average in persuading people to buy products. Are you sure you want to use a celebrity? Call that a rule? Or I may say to an art director, Research suggests that if you set the copy in black type on a white background, more people will read it than if you set it in white type on a black background.
(1) Guidance based on applied research can hardly qualify as rules.’
(2) Thus, all my so called rules are rooted in applied research.
(3) A suggestion perhaps, but scarcely a rule.
(4) Such principles are unavoidable if one wants to be systematic about consumer behaviour.
(5) Fundamentally it is about consumer behaviour – not about celebrities or type settings
The author’s tone is slightly tongue in cheek . Thus option (3) seems the right one.
Tanveer Ahmed is an alumnus of St Xaviers College, Kolkata and currently works with a people search firm as a recruiter. He is a visiting faculty with T.I.M.E. and also coaches and mentors CAT hopefuls online in the intricacies of the English language. (On LinkedIn)
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