NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 15 of 150

Correct — C, 'homogenous'. Miscellaneous means made up of items of many different kinds, so the reverse is a set in which everything is of the same kind, which is what the paper's option names.

• (a)pure — Pure means unmixed in the sense of free from anything foreign or contaminating; a set of items can be pure in that sense and still contain many different kinds of thing.
• (b)mixed — 'Mixed' repeats the sense of miscellaneous instead of reversing it, and a near-synonym is the standard decoy in an antonym block.
• (d)discordant — Discordant means clashing or out of harmony, which is about disagreement rather than about variety of kinds.

Miscellaneous describes a collection of varied kinds, so its opposite is a collection all of one kind, for which the usual English word is 'homogeneous'.

The paper prints the option as 'homogenous', and it is reproduced here exactly as printed. The spelling normally given for the 'all of one kind' sense is 'homogeneous', with five syllables; 'homogenous' began as a term in biology for likeness arising from common descent and is now widely used as a variant of the longer word. Nothing in the item turns on the spelling — the sense asked for is sameness of kind. The option to watch is 'pure', which reverses 'mixed' in a different sense, that of being unadulterated.

• 'Homogeneous' is the usual spelling of the word meaning uniform in composition, and 'heterogeneous' is its opposite.
• In chemistry a homogeneous mixture is uniform throughout, while a heterogeneous one is not.
• 'Miscellany' is the matching noun — a miscellany is a collection of varied pieces.

• Marking 'mixed', which repeats the underlined word.
• Marking 'pure', which reverses a different sense of mixing.

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

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

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

  • (a)varied
  • (b)uniform
  • (c)uneven
  • (d)scattered

  Answer(b) uniform — a heterogeneous set is made of unlike parts.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the phrase closest in meaning to 'assorted' in 'assorted sweets'.

  • (a)stale
  • (b)of various kinds
  • (c)identical
  • (d)expensive

  Answer(b) of various kinds — assorted means mixed in kind.