A word in context: the monsoon passage — Aptitude Question
A word in context: the monsoon passage: India's monsoon is often described as a single event, but it is really two. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Reading Comprehension
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 75 seconds
Question
India's monsoon is often described as a single event, but it is really two. The south-west monsoon arrives in Kerala in early June and works north over six weeks, bringing roughly three-quarters of the country's annual rainfall. The north-east monsoon, far smaller, returns in October and waters the south-eastern coast. Forecasting either has improved markedly since the 1990s, though the models remain better at predicting the total than its distribution — which is unfortunate, because it is the distribution that determines whether a crop survives.
As used in the passage, 'distribution' most nearly means:
Options
- How the rainfall is spread over time and place
- The delivery of relief supplies
- The sale of agricultural produce
- The total quantity of rainfall
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: A. How the rainfall is spread over time and place
Worked solution
- The passage contrasts predicting 'the total' with predicting 'its distribution'.
- So distribution means how that total is spread out, not the total itself.
Answer: How the rainfall is spread over time and place.
The idea
When a word is contrasted with another in the same sentence, that contrast defines it. Read the pair together rather than the word alone.
Shortcut. Distribution is set against 'the total' in the same sentence, so it cannot mean the total, and the crop clause ties it to rainfall, not goods. That leaves how the rainfall is spread.
Common trap. "The total quantity of rainfall" — rainfall is the passage's subject, so any rainfall option looks safe, but the sentence contrasts distribution with 'the total', so it cannot mean the same thing.