CSAT Solved Papers/ 2022/Q71
2022 CSAT — Q71
Passage
To encourage research is one of the functions of a university. Contemporary universities have encouraged research, not only in those cases where research is necessary, but on all sorts of entirely unprofitable subjects as well. Scientific research is probably never completely valueless. However silly and insignificant it may seem, however mechanical and unintelligent the labours of the researchers, there is always a chance that the results may be of value to the investigator of talent, who can use the facts collected for him by uninspired but industrious researchers as the basis of some fruitful generalization. But where research is not original, but consists in the mere rearrangement of existing materials, where its object is not scientific but literary or historical, then there is a risk of the whole business becoming merely futile.
The author’s assumption about scientific research is that
Thinking pathway
Locate. This asks for the author’s view: find the exact strength of the author’s claim, not a softened or hardened version of it. The passage: “Scientific research is probably never completely valueless. However silly and insignificant it may seem… there is always a chance that the results may be of value to the investigator of talent.”
Test (qualifier-match). “Never completely valueless” = it always has some value — a hedged, floor-level claim. (c) “it is never without some value” is the precise double-negative match. Test the rest: (a) “never very valuable” reverses it; (b) “sometimes very valuable” swaps the “always some value” floor for an occasional high value; (d) “always very valuable” inflates “some value” into “very.”
Eliminate by anatomy. (a) gets the direction backwards. (b) changes the passage’s level of certainty — converts “always some value” into “sometimes very valuable.” (d) over-states the case — “some value” pushed to “very valuable.” The transferable rule: “never completely valueless” is a some-value-always claim; match it to the option that keeps both the universality (always) and the modesty (some), which is (c). Key: (c).
Evidence in the text
“Scientific research is probably never completely valueless. However silly and insignificant it may seem… there is always a chance that the results may be of value to the investigator of talent.” — “never completely valueless” = always has SOME value. (c) “it is never without some value” matches exactly, preserving the hedge (“some,” not “very”). (a) reverses it; (b) “sometimes very valuable” drops the “always some value” claim; (d) “always very valuable” inflates “some value” into “very valuable” → (c).
Worked rationale
The author’s claim is a floor: scientific research is never completely valueless — there is always at least some chance of value.
- (c) “never without some value” mirrors “never completely valueless.” Correct.
- (a) reverses to “never very valuable.”
- (b) “sometimes very valuable” drops the always-some-value floor.
- (d) “always very valuable” overstates “some” into “very.”
Answer: (c).
Why the other options miss
- A cause and effect reversed: “never very valuable” is the opposite of the author’s point that research always carries some value.
- B changes the passage’s level of certainty: trades the universal floor (“always some value”) for an occasional peak (“sometimes very valuable”), changing both the quantifier and the strength.
- D too strong for what the passage says: “always very valuable” inflates the modest “some value” into “very” — more than the author claims.
Specialist insight
This is a precision-of-degree item. The author makes a careful floor claim (“never completely valueless” = always at least some value), and three distractors each shift it: (a) flips the sign, (b) weakens the quantifier while raising the degree, (d) raises the degree to “very.” Only (c) preserves both the “always” and the “some.” Read the double negative literally — “never completely valueless” means “always somewhat valuable,” nothing more. (c).
"Never completely valueless" means "always has some value" (c); (d) inflates "some" into "very valuable" and (b) weakens "always" into "sometimes."