Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Doctor
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This is a classic verbal analogy based on places and the professionals who work there. The pair School : Teacher shows that a teacher is the key professional associated with a school. In the same way, we must identify the key professional associated with a hospital. Such questions test general knowledge and the ability to see functional relationships.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The relationship in the example pair can be described as place mapped to principal professional. In a school, there are many people like students and clerks, but the defining professional is the teacher. For a hospital we must similarly select the professional who defines the purpose of that place. We are not just looking for any person found there, but the one whose role best represents the institution.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Analyse the pair School : Teacher. The primary function of a school is teaching, and the specialist who performs this function is the teacher.Step 2: List the people commonly found in a hospital: doctors, nurses, clerks, and patients.Step 3: Identify the main function of a hospital, which is diagnosing and treating illness and injury.Step 4: Determine which role is directly responsible for this main function. Doctors examine patients, prescribe medicines and perform surgeries. They are the core medical professionals.Step 5: Compare this with other roles. Clerks handle administrative work, and patients receive care but are not staff professionals. Students do not belong naturally to a hospital setting.Step 6: Therefore, the profession that stands to hospital as teacher stands to school is doctor.
Verification / Alternative check:
We can express the analogy in words: as teachers teach in schools, doctors treat patients in hospitals. This keeps both the place and the primary professional parallel. If we tried to substitute patient, the structure would break, because patients are receivers of service rather than the defining service providers. Thus, doctor is the only choice that maintains the functional analogy.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A, Clerk, is present in many offices and workplaces, not only hospitals, and is not unique to medical care. Option C, Student, belongs in a school, not primarily in a hospital. Option D, Patient, is someone who receives treatment rather than a professional who provides it. These roles do not match the place to main professional relationship shown in the stem pair.
Common Pitfalls:
Some candidates are tempted by Patient because hospitals are full of patients, but that reverses the perspective of the analogy. Others may not think carefully about what is meant by the key professional. The safest approach is to ask which person is professionally responsible for the primary purpose of the institution in each case.
Final Answer:
The correct completion of the analogy is Doctor, so option B is correct.
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