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07 Apr 2025, 06:50
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
33% (00:44) correct
66% (00:41) wrong based on 6 sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
On an aptitude test in 1986, an argument posited that the possibility of conducting banking transactions from home was as likely as flying cars, an argument that sounds ___________ today, when such transactions are commonplace.
A. prescient
B. preternatural
C. preordained
D. preposterous
E. pithy
A. prescient
B. preternatural
C. preordained
D. preposterous
E. pithy
09 Apr 2025, 10:46
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OE
The sentence states that two things were thought to be equally unlikely in 1986. But today, while one of those events still seems quite farfetched, the other is commonplace, making the argument sound absurd or “preposterous.” “Preternatural” means what is beyond normal or natural and is used to express mysterious or exceptional events. This argument isn’t really mysterious as much as it is wrong. Note that “prescient” (ability to foretell the future) is the opposite of what the sentence requires—because the prediction about the future was entirely wrong, it does not sound “prescient.” To “preordain” is to decide or determine an outcome in advance. While the fact that banking transactions from home are commonplace now could possibly imply that the transactions were “preordained,” the argument against such a possibility would neither be preordained nor sound preordained. Finally, “pithy” means concise, and nothing in the sentence suggests that the argument is concise.
Answer: D
The sentence states that two things were thought to be equally unlikely in 1986. But today, while one of those events still seems quite farfetched, the other is commonplace, making the argument sound absurd or “preposterous.” “Preternatural” means what is beyond normal or natural and is used to express mysterious or exceptional events. This argument isn’t really mysterious as much as it is wrong. Note that “prescient” (ability to foretell the future) is the opposite of what the sentence requires—because the prediction about the future was entirely wrong, it does not sound “prescient.” To “preordain” is to decide or determine an outcome in advance. While the fact that banking transactions from home are commonplace now could possibly imply that the transactions were “preordained,” the argument against such a possibility would neither be preordained nor sound preordained. Finally, “pithy” means concise, and nothing in the sentence suggests that the argument is concise.
Answer: D
