Sentences Rearrangement Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The correct order is DCAB. D comes first because it states the general fact that koalas are pregnant for 30-35 days. C follows by naming the newborn a joey. A then describes the joey at birth: half a gram, crawling into the pouch and feeding on milk. B closes the sequence with what happens at 6 months, when the joey begins to eat pap.

DBAC and ABDC put the six-month stage before the birth details, and ACDB puts the birth weight before the pregnancy that precedes it.

Answer: D

The correct order is ADCB. A opens the paragraph with the situation: public opinion strongly favoured his continuing as the end of his term neared. D gives the first example of that opinion, thousands of letters and emails. C adds a further kind of evidence, letters from eminent people. B closes with the media, introduced by 'Besides the public and the elite', which refers back to the earlier groups.

ABCD and CADB place B or C before the groups they refer to, and CDAB starts with a detail before the main point.

Answer: C

The correct order is CDAB. Sentence C opens the paragraph by naming the first portion of the Vedas, the Samhita. D follows with "This literally means putting together", where "This" refers to the word Samhita. A then adds "More formally, it refers to hymns", continuing the explanation of that word, and B closes by saying how those hymns are regarded, as revelations of sages. DCBA, CADB and DABC start with or put a sentence containing "This" or "More formally" before the thing it refers to.

Answer: D

The correct order is BCAD. B introduces the topic, the Delhi High Court's first woman judge. C says many lawyers could not bring themselves to call her "milady". A gives an example, a barrister friend who did address a judge as milady and was rebuked by her brother judge. D gives the friend's reply. BACD, ABDC and ACDB open with an example or with the reply, before the judge or the issue has been introduced. Only one of the four options has B first, then C, then A and D, because the passage must begin with the sentence that introduces the judge. The other options start with A, which refers to "the judge" before the topic is introduced.

Answer: C

The paragraph begins with the general statement in Q, that communicating with distant spacecraft is difficult. Sentence S then says why: the signals between the spacecraft and the ground stations are very weak. Sentence P adds that because of the large distances it takes them a long time to travel between the two, and R gives examples of the delay, 24 minutes to Mars and a day for Voyager 1. So the order is Q, S, P, R, option (C). The other orders either put the example R before the point it illustrates or open with a sentence that depends on something earlier.

Answer: A

The order is CADB.

C states that cocoa cannot grow on farms. A explains that it needs rain-forest conditions. D, with 'This is because', gives the reason: its pollinators are midges that live only in rain forests. B ends by saying that the flowers can be pollinated only in the daytime.

Options starting with D or B cannot begin the paragraph because they refer back to something ('This is because').

The 'This is because' in D explains the claim made just before it, so D must follow A, which says that the plant needs the rain forest. The first sentence C states the general claim that cocoa cannot grow on farms, and B, on the pollination time, closes the paragraph. The order is C, A, D, B.

Answer: A

The order is BDAC.

B introduces gunpowder's first mention in an Eastern Han book. D says that at that time it was called the fire drug. A adds that this fire drug was a less refined version of modern gunpowder. C moves on to later centuries, when firecrackers were invented.

Other orders break these links, for example by starting with C, which refers to 'later' events.

The paragraph runs in time from the Han dynasty to the ninth to eleventh centuries. B gives the first mention, D describes the name used at that time, A says what this early product was, and C gives the later invention of firecrackers. This chronology fixes the order.

Answer: D

The correct order is 2-4-1-3. Sentence 2 opens the story by introducing Lexi and the time, nearly 2 a.m. Sentence 4 follows because 'She' now has an antecedent and the action is in the same moment. Sentence 1 then says where she was and what she was doing, working on her PhD thesis, and sentence 3 carries on with 'The research', which refers back to the thesis. Orders that begin with sentence 1 or 3 start with a pronoun or 'The research' that has nothing before it.

Answer: A

The correct order is 2-4-3-1. Sentence 2 sets the scene with the narrator walking out with the family at night. Sentence 4 introduces the other families on the road to Lahore railway station. Sentence 3 speaks of 'they' and 'that train to Amritsar', which depends on the families and the station mentioned in sentence 4. Sentence 1 closes the paragraph by returning to the narrator's own small load on the way to a new nation. The other orders put 'they' or 'others' before the people are introduced.

Answer: D

The coherent order is (iii), (ii), (i), (iv).

Sentence (iii) must open, because it is the only one that names the character, Mina; the others refer to her as 'she'. Her heavy bags explain (ii), that she pants by the time she has climbed the stairs. Reaching the top leads to (i), where she is on the terrace and notices the man, and (iv) then describes that man, 'he', leaning against the parapet.

Every other option fails on reference. Starting with (i), (ii) or (iv) uses 'she' or 'he' before anyone has been introduced, and option (ii), (iii), (i), (iv) has her panting from the stairs before we learn she has been shopping, which breaks the cause and effect.