English Language Questions for CLAT | QB Set 42

It is tempting to assume that false beliefs disappear once accurate information is supplied. Human reasoning, however, is rarely so mechanical. Once a piece of information has been accepted as true, it can become woven into a person’s understanding of an event. A later correction may remove the false claim, but it does not necessarily provide an equally convincing explanation to replace it.

This is one reason fake news can survive even after being publicly debunked. Repetition also matters. A claim encountered several times begins to feel familiar, and familiarity is often mistaken for truth. Moreover, people are generally more receptive to information that supports what they already believe. A correction that challenges a deeply held political, social or personal view may therefore be examined with greater suspicion than the original falsehood.

Correcting misinformation is consequently not merely a matter of presenting better facts. Effective corrections must be clear, memorable and capable of explaining why the misleading claim appeared plausible in the first place. In an age where information travels rapidly, the struggle against fake news is partly a struggle to understand how the human mind decides what deserves to be believed.

Questions

1. Which of the following most accurately reflects the central claim of the passage?

A. False information persists mainly because people are unwilling to trust fact-checking institutions.
B. Repetition is the most significant psychological factor responsible for the spread of misinformation.
C. Correcting misinformation requires more than supplying accurate facts because false beliefs may become embedded in existing ways of understanding events.
D. People generally prefer emotionally persuasive explanations over objectively verifiable facts.

2. The author’s statement that human reasoning is “rarely so mechanical” is intended to suggest that:

A. people are incapable of distinguishing accurate information from misinformation.
B. the acceptance or rejection of information involves psychological processes beyond a simple replacement of falsehood with fact.
C. logical reasoning becomes ineffective when political or social beliefs are involved.
D. factual corrections are useful only when they are repeated as frequently as the original misinformation.

3. In the context of the passage, the word “plausible” most nearly means:

A. apparently reasonable or believable
B. factually proven beyond doubt
C. deliberately misleading
D. widely circulated

4. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the author’s argument?

A. People who regularly read newspapers are less likely to encounter misinformation online.
B. Social media platforms are increasingly adding warning labels to disputed posts.
C. Some false claims disappear rapidly once news organisations publish corrections.
D. People continue relying on an earlier false explanation even after accepting that one of its central factual claims was incorrect.

5. Which of the following would the author most likely agree with?

A. Misinformation can be eliminated if fact-checkers respond quickly enough.
B. Corrections should avoid discussing the original false claim because doing so increases familiarity.
C. People who believe misinformation are usually consciously rejecting factual evidence.
D. An effective correction should not merely identify what is false but should also help the reader construct a more convincing understanding of the issue.

Answers and Explanations

1. C

Option C best expresses the overall argument. The passage does not merely state that fake news exists or that repetition matters. Its broader point is that false information can become integrated into a person’s understanding, making correction more difficult than simply replacing a wrong fact with a correct one.

Option A introduces distrust of fact-checking institutions, which is not discussed. Option B gives excessive importance to repetition, although the passage treats it as only one factor. Option D introduces emotional persuasion, which the passage does not specifically identify as the main reason misinformation persists.

2. B

The phrase “rarely so mechanical” challenges the assumption that the mind simply removes a false belief when a correct fact is supplied. The author argues that beliefs interact with familiarity, existing explanations and prior convictions.

Option A is too absolute. The passage does not suggest that people are incapable of recognising truth. Option C narrows the argument unnecessarily to political and social beliefs. Option D introduces a requirement about equal repetition that the author never states.

3. A

“Plausible” means something that appears reasonable, credible or believable, even if it may later prove to be false.

Option B is incorrect because something plausible need not be conclusively true. Option C refers to the intention behind misinformation, while “plausible” describes how convincing it appears. Option D concerns frequency of circulation rather than believability.

4. D

Option D directly supports the author’s claim that correcting one false fact may not remove the broader influence of misinformation. If people continue using the earlier false explanation even after acknowledging that part of it is wrong, this demonstrates exactly how misinformation can remain embedded in their understanding.

Option A concerns exposure to misinformation rather than persistence after correction. Option B concerns platform policy but does not establish whether corrections change beliefs. Option C would, if anything, suggest that corrections can sometimes work quickly and therefore offers weaker support for the author’s specific argument.

5. D

The final paragraph makes clear that the author believes successful correction requires more than stating accurate facts. A correction should also explain why the false claim seemed convincing and provide a better framework for understanding the issue.

Option A is too optimistic and reduces the problem to speed. Option B is not supported by the passage. Although repetition can increase familiarity, the author does not argue that corrections should avoid discussing the original claim altogether. Option C wrongly assumes that belief in misinformation is necessarily a conscious rejection of evidence.