Directions for Questions: Below is given a passage followed by several…
2024
Directions for Questions: Below is given a passage followed by several possible inferences which can be drawn from the facts stated in the passage. You have to examine each inference separately in the context of the passage and decide upon its degree of truth or falsity.
Economic liberalization and globalization have put pressures on Indian industry, particularly on the service sector, to offer quality products and services at low costs and with high speed.
Organizations have to compete with unequal partners from abroad. It is well recognized that developing countries like India are already behind other countries technologically, in many areas, although some of them particularly India, boast of huge scientific and technical manpower. In addition to this, if an entrepreneur or industrialist has to spend a lot of his time, money and energy in dealing with unpredictable services and in negotiating with the local bureaucracy, it can have a significant dampening effect on business.
Foreign companies are more equipped than domestic companies to provide quality service in good time.
- A.
If the inference is definitely true, i.e. it properly follows from the statement of facts given.
- B.
If the inference is 'probably true' though not 'definitely true' in the light of the facts given.
- C.
If the data are inadequate, i.e. from the facts given cannot say whether the inference is likely to be true or false.
- D.
If the inference is probably false, though not 'definitely false' in the light of the facts given.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
In a Statement-and-Inference set, an inference is a conclusion not directly stated in the passage but reasonably drawable from it. Its truth value is graded by how strongly the given facts, taken together, support it - from certain, to merely likely, to unsupported either way, to more likely false.
The passage notes that organisations must compete with 'unequal partners from abroad' and that developing countries such as India are 'already behind other countries technologically...in many areas,' which supports the inference that foreign companies are better placed to deliver quality service quickly. The same sentence, however, credits India with 'huge scientific and technical manpower,' a factor that offsets - without overturning - that edge.
Definitely true fails because the manpower remark keeps the passage from asserting the edge with total certainty.
Data inadequate fails because the passage does supply directly relevant evidence (the technological-gap statement) on the point.
Probably false fails because nothing in the passage points toward domestic companies being equally or better equipped.
Weighing the supporting evidence against the qualifying manpower remark, the inference is best classified as probably true, though not definitely true.