Verbal Aptitude in the CET

Verbal Aptitude questions in CET used to be easy. The

emphasis was on speed. There used to be about 50
questions based on grammar, vocabulary, reading
comprehension, and reasoning (see table) until
2011. Prior to 2011 students were generally carried
away by the sometimes ridiculously low level of
difficulty of these questions and forgot that what
mattered was not merely getting the answers right
but getting them right in the shortest time possible.
However, 2011 proved to be the watershed year for
Verbal in the history of CET (see table at the end). The
section assumed a new form altogether. Familiar
question types went missing. Short questions were
few and far between. Time consuming questions were
far too many. There were 31 questions on Reading
Comprehension, including 15 questions that can be
termed as critical Reading as the passage consisted
of a View followed by a Counterview on a topic.
Critical Reasoning questions, though familiar to most
students taking the CET, presented a challenge. The
format was of the familiar structured Critical
Reasoning questions (of the GMAT type) ; the student
was required distinguish between the five options as,
Effect, Reason, Apprehension, Cause, Course of
Action etc. apart from the familiar assumption,
inference weaken and strengthen questions.
There were 13 questions of this type based on just 5
or
6
passages. This unexpected form that Verbal Ability
questions took in 2011 CET largely contributed to the
popular perception that it was a very tough

question paper. It was, in a way, favoured students

with stronger Verbal Ability.
As compared to that, in 2012, Verbal in CET had
lesser questions in Verbal 63 in all. Out of these,
only 12 were Reading Comprehension questions and 5
questions were on Critical Reasoning.
Besides this, some new types of questions were
introduced Insert Missing Sentence which was there
in 2011 as well, was modified to accommodate 2
missing
sentences.
Verbal Aptitude questions in CET can be roughly
divided into four categories:
1. Grammar
2. Vocabulary
3. Reading Comprehension
Typical questions in the CET
1.
Error

Spotting

In each of the following sentences, the error, if there

is one, will be in the part given in bold and numbered.
The number of the part which contains the
error is the answer. If there is no error, the answer is
(E). The error, if any, will be of grammar or/and
usage. (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any ).

A.
Schools, hospitals and most other essential services
in rural India are mostly government-run/
B.
and, with the introducing of/
C.
the MGREG Scheme five years ago, the government
has become/
D.
the employer of the first resort/
E.
No

error

2.
Missing Sentence:
In each of the following questions three or four
sentences 1, 2, 3, 4, as the case may be; form a
meaningful paragraph/flow of thought. One of the
sentences is missing and it is shown as __. You have
to find out from (A), (B), (C), (D) or (E) as to which
sentence would best fit the missing part:
1. The myth that money in the hands of tribal goes on
drink and destroys families is belied by the fact that
almost
all
children
in
the
area
are
in
schools.
2. The girl students I met had certainly begun looking
beyond the lives of their parents.

3. 4. I couldnt help wondering what a trial they would

blaze if they had access to , the kind of education
that most of us in the cities take for
granted.
Which of the following would best fit (3)?
A. They literally aimed for the stars under that indigo
sky,
B. The corporate have value added to the local
schools.
C. Education is the offshoot of income generation
from agriculture.:
D. There is an opportunity cost to poor families and
they dont send their children to school.
E. The city education is not as good as the one
offered here with the help of progressive NGOs.
3.
Odd Word out
Four of the following five are alike in a certain way,
hence form a group. Which of the following does not
belong to that group?
A. Triangle B. Cylinder C. Sphere D. Cube E. Cone
4. Cloze
These questions consist of a passage, with several
words missing. Each of these missing words is

replaced by numbered blanks. You need to figure out

from
the answer options, which of the given words can fill
up the blank appropriately.
A lacklustre market & stock prices that are (1) in the
dumps
have (2) a
consolidation
drive
by
multinational
& Indian promoters alike. A spate of open offers, all
looking to (3) promoted stakes, has hit the market
recently.
It
seems
a
series of hostile takeover bids the credit of which
must go to a fair and (4) takeover code put in place
by
SEBI,
has
rattled
Indian
promoters. On the other hand, MNCs see low prices
as an (5), gain full control of their subsidiaries and
subsequently
delist
them
from the exchanges, as a liberalized environment
now allows them to own even a hundred percent
stake in their subsidiaries.
Q.
1.
(1) increasing (2) escalating (3) meagre (4) soaring
(5) down
Q.
2.
(1) fuelled (2) retarded (3) dampened (4) ignored (5)
stalled
Q.
3.
(1) worsen (2) minimize (3) emphasize (4) increase
(5) ruin
Q.
(1) hostile (2) marvellous
immobile (5) shrouded

(3)

transparent

4.
(4)

Q.
(1) intuition (2) opportunity
extremity (5) angularity

(3)

5.
(4)

exception

Breakup of Verbal Questions in CET paper over

the years
2009

2010

2011

2012

2014

2015

Error Spotting

10 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

8-10 Qs

Cloze

10 Qs

13 Qs

10 Qs

10 Qs

10-16 Qs

Sentence Completion

10 Qs

5 Qs

10 Qs

10 Qs

3-5 Qs

Parajumbles

5 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

Sentence Correction

5 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

Vocabulary

5 Qs

4 Qs

5 Qs

5 Qs

10-12 Qs

Reading Comprehension

15 Qs

15 Qs

31 Qs

12 Qs

10 Qs

5-15 Qs

Total

40
Qs

50
Qs

53
Qs

52
Qs

50
Qs

55-60
Qs

You can read the full article here: Verbal Aptitude in

the CET