NDA (I) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 18 of 149

Correct — B, 'without distinguishing'. 'Indiscriminate' is built on 'discriminate' in its older neutral sense of telling one thing apart from another, so firing indiscriminately is firing without making any distinction. The sentence bears this out — innocent women and children were hit because nobody was singled out from anybody else.

• (a)continuously — This describes firing that goes on without a break, a claim about duration rather than about the choice of target.
• (c)foolishly — This passes judgement on how sensible the act was, while the underlined word reports only that no distinction was drawn.
• (d)rapidly — This describes speed, which is again a different property from selectivity.

'Indiscriminately' means without making any distinction between one person or thing and another.

The three wrong options all describe how the firing was carried out — how fast, how long, how sensibly. Only one option addresses whether targets were told apart, and that is the property the underlined word names. Splitting the negative prefix from the root makes this visible at once.

• 'Discriminate' in its neutral sense means to perceive a difference between things.
• The prefix in- here means not, giving the sense of making no distinction.
• The directions for this block allow a group of words, not just a single word, as the answer.

• Choosing an adverb about speed or duration because the scene is violent and chaotic.
• Reading 'discriminate' only in its modern social sense.

Asked as a synonym item — choose the word or group of words most similar in meaning to the underlined word.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'indiscriminate'.

  • (a)selective
  • (b)random
  • (c)careful
  • (d)gradual

  Answer(b) random — indiscriminate action draws no distinction between cases.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the meaning of 'discriminating' in the phrase 'a discriminating reader'.

  • (a)prejudiced
  • (b)discerning
  • (c)hasty
  • (d)careless

  Answer(b) discerning — here 'discriminating' means able to judge fine differences.