NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 11 of 150

Correct — D, 'unlinked to'. To be geared to something is to be adjusted and directed towards it, as gears in a machine are set to drive a particular load; the reverse is having no connection with it at all, which is what 'unlinked to' states.

• (a)subordinated to — Being subordinated to wartime needs means being made to serve them, which runs alongside being geared to them rather than against it.
• (b)related to — 'Related to' keeps the connection and merely states it more weakly, so it moves in the same direction as the phrase, not against it.
• (c)adjusted to — This is the plain synonym of 'geared to' and is the standard decoy in an antonym block.

'Geared to' is a phrase, not a single word — it means adapted and directed towards a purpose — and every option is a phrase ending in 'to', so the whole phrase has to be reversed.

The underline runs across two printed lines and covers both words, 'geared to'; reading only 'geared' loses the item. 'Unlinked' is not a word anyone uses often, and that unfamiliarity is what pushes candidates towards the comfortable synonym 'adjusted to'. In an antonym block the option that fits the sentence most smoothly is usually the trap, because the sentence was written around the underlined phrase in the first place.

• The image behind the phrase is mechanical — gears set so that one part drives another.
• 'Gear up' means to prepare or get ready for something.
• The prefix un- builds a straightforward opposite from a participle — unlinked, unrelated, unconnected.

• Reversing only the word 'geared' and ignoring the preposition that every option carries.
• Choosing 'adjusted to', which repeats the phrase instead of reversing it.

Asked as an antonym item — choose the word most opposite in meaning to the underlined word.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the phrase most opposite in meaning to 'geared to' in 'The course is geared to beginners.'

  • (a)suited to
  • (b)aimed at
  • (c)unsuited to
  • (d)adapted to

  Answer(c) unsuited to — the other three all keep the idea of being fitted to a purpose.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the phrase most opposite in meaning to 'in favour of'.

  • (a)in support of
  • (b)on the side of
  • (c)against
  • (d)along with

  Answer(c) against — the other three all express support.