Which kind of human beings denounce studies?
- (a)Innocent
- (b)Cunning
- (c)Stupid
- (d)Wise
Correct — B, Cunning. The author writes 'Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them.' To condemn is to denounce, and 'crafty' means cunning — so it is cunning people who denounce studies.
- (a)Innocent — The passage pairs the 'simple' (innocent) with admiration — 'simple men admire them' — not with denouncing study.
- (c)Stupid — No group is called stupid; the simple men admire studies rather than denounce them, so this does not fit the text.
- (d)Wise — The author says 'wise men use them', so the wise value study and are the opposite of those who denounce it.
A reading-comprehension item on who condemns study, keyed to the 'crafty / simple / wise' triad and the synonym crafty = cunning.
This item is based on the short passage printed above Questions 41-45 in the NDA-II 2019 GAT (Series A) — a verbatim extract widely known as Francis Bacon's essay 'Of Studies'. The passage reads: "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider." The answer turns on 'Crafty men condemn studies', where crafty means cunning and condemn means denounce.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In Bacon's 'Of Studies', which group admires studies?
- (a)Crafty men
- (b)Simple men
- (c)Wise men
- (d)Expert men
Answer(b) Simple men — the text says 'simple men admire them'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to the passage, what do wise men do with studies?
- (a)Condemn them
- (b)Admire them
- (c)Use them
- (d)Ignore them
Answer(c) Use them — the text says 'wise men use them'.