NDA (I) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 19 of 149

Correct — B, 'sharpness'. 'Acumen' means keenness of judgement, the quickness to see what matters in a practical situation, and 'sharpness' names that same mental edge. Business acumen is the everyday English phrase for a shrewd head for trade, and it is exactly what the sentence says these businessmen lack.

• (a)fairness — Fairness concerns justice in dealing with others rather than quickness of mind.
• (c)boldness — Boldness is willingness to take risk, and a bold trader without judgement is precisely the one who fails.
• (d)righteousness — Righteousness concerns moral uprightness and says nothing about commercial insight.

'Acumen' means the ability to make quick and accurate judgements, especially in practical affairs.

The three wrong options are all admirable qualities, which is what makes them attractive. Each of them is moral or temperamental, while 'acumen' is purely intellectual — it names how keenly a person sees, not how well he behaves.

• 'Acumen' comes from the Latin acumen, meaning a point or sharpness.
• 'Business acumen' is the commonest English collocation for the word.
• The same root gives English 'acute'.

• Choosing a moral virtue because it sounds like a good quality for a businessman.
• Missing that the word names an intellectual edge and nothing more.

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

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word nearest in meaning to 'acumen'.

  • (a)honesty
  • (b)shrewdness
  • (c)patience
  • (d)generosity

  Answer(b) shrewdness — acumen is keenness of practical judgement.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the word most opposite in meaning to 'acumen'.

  • (a)insight
  • (b)stupidity
  • (c)wealth
  • (d)caution

  Answer(b) stupidity — acumen means sharpness of judgement.