Arrange the following to form a grammatically correct sentence : 1. Einstein was 2. although a great scientist 3. weak in Arithmetic 4. right from his school days Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
- (a)4, 1, 3 and 2
- (b)2, 1, 3 and 4
- (c)4, 3, 1 and 2
- (d)2, 3, 1 and 4
Answer
Why
Correct — B, (b) 2, 1, 3 and 4.
Read in the order 2, 1, 3 and 4 the four fragments make one clean sentence: ‘Although a great scientist, Einstein was weak in Arithmetic right from his school days.’
The way to reach that order is to sort the fragments by what each one is, before trying any sequence. Fragment 1, ‘Einstein was’, is the only one with a subject and a finite verb, so it is the backbone of the sentence. Fragment 3, ‘weak in Arithmetic’, is an adjective phrase and cannot stand alone; it is the complement that ‘was’ requires, so 1 and 3 must sit together in that order. Fragment 4, ‘right from his school days’, is a phrase of time, and a time phrase attaches most naturally at the end of the clause it modifies. Fragment 2, ‘although a great scientist’, is a subordinate clause with its subject and verb left out — the full form would be ‘although he was a great scientist’.
That last fragment is what decides the item. A clause of this reduced kind takes its subject from the main clause, and English convention places it next to that subject, normally at the front of the sentence and marked off by a comma. Put 2 first and it locks onto ‘Einstein’ at once; the reader knows who was a great scientist before the sentence goes any further.
So: the concession first, then the subject and verb, then the complement, then the time phrase — 2, 1, 3 and 4. One point of substance for the reader, separate from the grammar: the sentence being assembled is a piece of popular legend rather than biography. Einstein’s own account is that he had mastered integral and differential calculus while still fourteen.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)4, 1, 3 and 2 — The order 4, 1, 3 and 2 produces ‘Right from his school days Einstein was weak in Arithmetic although a great scientist.’ That is not gibberish, which is exactly what makes it the most attractive wrong answer here — a fluent reader can get through it. It fails on the placement of the reduced clause. ‘Although a great scientist’ has no subject of its own and must borrow one from the noun it sits beside; at the end of this sentence the nearest noun is ‘Arithmetic’, so the modifier dangles, and the reader is momentarily offered the idea of arithmetic being a great scientist. Sentence-final concessive phrases of this shape also need a comma before them to work at all, and the fragments as printed carry no punctuation. Fronting the concession removes both difficulties at once, which is why the convention exists.
- (c)4, 3, 1 and 2 — The order 4, 3, 1 and 2 gives ‘Right from his school days weak in Arithmetic Einstein was although a great scientist’, which does not parse. Two things have gone wrong at once. The complement ‘weak in Arithmetic’ has been separated from the verb it completes and pushed in front of the subject, and the verb ‘was’ has been left stranded at the end of its clause with nothing after it. English allows a good deal of freedom in moving adjuncts about — phrases of time and place can go at the front, in the middle or at the end — but almost none in separating a linking verb from its complement. Recognising which fragments are adjuncts and which are structural is what makes these items quick: the adjuncts can be tried in several positions, the backbone cannot.
- (d)2, 3, 1 and 4 — The order 2, 3, 1 and 4 gives ‘Although a great scientist weak in Arithmetic Einstein was right from his school days’, and it fails in the same way as the option before it: the verb ‘was’ has been detached from ‘weak in Arithmetic’ and ends up governing nothing. The order also creates a second problem — with fragment 3 placed immediately after fragment 2, a reader takes ‘although a great scientist weak in Arithmetic’ as a single description, and the concession collapses into the very thing it was meant to be conceded against. This option is worth studying because it begins with the correct fragment. Starting the sentence with the concession is right; a candidate who checks only the first item of the sequence has no way of separating this option from the keyed one, and must read the whole order through.
Concept
Sentence-rearrangement items test one thing: whether a candidate can identify the grammatical role of a fragment on sight. Four steps do it every time.
First, find the backbone — the fragment containing a subject with a finite verb. Everything else is arranged around it. Here that is ‘Einstein was’.
Second, find what the verb needs. A linking verb such as ‘was’ needs a complement, and ‘weak in Arithmetic’ is the only fragment that can supply one, so those two are joined and in that order.
Third, identify the adjuncts — the phrases that add time, place, manner or reason and can be moved. ‘Right from his school days’ is a time adjunct, and its default home is the end of the clause.
Fourth, deal with any subordinate clause. ‘Although a great scientist’ is a concessive clause reduced by dropping its subject and verb; the full form is ‘although he was a great scientist’. Reduced clauses of this kind must sit beside the noun they describe, and the natural and safest position is at the front of the sentence, before the subject.
The general rule behind step four is the rule against dangling modifiers, one of the most reliable sources of error in English sections: a participial or reduced clause attaches itself to the nearest available noun, so it must be placed where the nearest noun is the right one.
This is the tenth and last item of the paper’s English-only opening block, and the only rearrangement in it. It is set in the simplest of the several formats such questions take: the four fragments are numbered with digits, each on its own line, and the options are digit orderings written out as ‘4, 1, 3 and 2’. There is no fixed first or last sentence supplied, as some papers provide, so all four fragments are in play.
The option set is instructive. Two of the four orders are plainly ungrammatical and can be discarded by anybody who reads them through, which means the real contest is between the keyed order and the one that fronts the time phrase and leaves the concession at the end. That second order is fluent enough to pass an inattentive ear, and separating it from the keyed one requires knowing why a reduced clause belongs beside its subject. That is the point of the item.
A practical note on method: with only four fragments there are twenty-four possible orders but only four on offer, so the fastest route is not to construct the sentence from scratch but to identify the backbone, decide where the reduced clause must go, and then look for the option that agrees. ‘Arithmetic’ is capitalised in the middle of the fragment as the paper prints it, and nothing in the item turns on that.
Key facts
- The assembled sentence reads ‘Although a great scientist, Einstein was weak in Arithmetic right from his school days.’
- Fragment 1 is the only one with a subject and a finite verb, so it is the backbone; fragment 3 is the complement that ‘was’ requires.
- ‘Although a great scientist’ is a reduced concessive clause — the full form is ‘although he was a great scientist’ — and it takes its subject from the main clause.
- A reduced clause attaches to the nearest available noun, so placing it at the end of this sentence would make it describe ‘Arithmetic’; fronting it removes the ambiguity.
- The claim the sentence makes is popular legend rather than biography: Einstein recorded that he had mastered integral and differential calculus while still fourteen, and at the polytechnic entrance examination of 1895 he performed with distinction in physics and mathematics while falling short in the general part.
Study next
Common traps
- Choosing the order that reads fluently aloud without asking what the reduced clause attaches to.
- Separating the linking verb from its complement; ‘was’ and ‘weak in Arithmetic’ have to stay together and in that order.
- Checking only the first fragment of an option. Two of these four orders begin correctly.
- Assuming the time phrase must come first because it can. It can go at either end, so it decides nothing on its own.
The rearrangement item in this block is set with digits rather than the letters some papers use, and the options spell the order out in words — ‘2, 1, 3 and 4’. Expect one order that is fluent but grammatically loose, and expect at least one wrong order to begin with the same fragment as the key, so that partial checking gives no protection. The grammar tested is nearly always the same small set: where a subordinate or reduced clause may sit, whether a verb has been separated from its complement, and whether a modifier has been left next to the wrong noun. The efficient approach is to build the sentence yourself in ten seconds using the backbone-first method and then match it against the four printed orders, rather than reading each option in turn.
Related PYQs
EPFO_APFC_2016_Q7Consider the sentence : 'The teacher gave me the book'. 1 2 3 4 5 6 where the words are numbered for convenience of reference. Consider also the insertion of a single word 'only' into this sentence to indicate a desired emphasis. Where shall this word be inserted if the emphasis is to be (i) On the recipient (ii) On the uniqueness of the item given (iii) On the giver respectively (only one at a time) ?
- (a) (i) Between 3-4; (ii) After 6; (iii) Between 2-3
- (b) (i) Between 3-4; (ii) Between 5-6; (iii) Before 1
- (c) (i) Between 4-5; (ii) Between 3-4; (iii) After 1
- (d) (i) Between 2-3; (ii) Between 4-5; (iii) Between 1-2
Answer(b) (i) Between 3-4; (ii) Between 5-6; (iii) Before 1
The other word-order item in this block, where the position of a single inserted word decides the meaning of a fixed sentence.
EPFO_APFC_2016_Q11What is the chronological sequence of the following events ? 1. First Battle of Panipat 2. Vietnam War 3. French Revolution 4. First Gulf War 5. World War I Select the correct answer using the codes given below :
- (a) 1, 5, 3, 2 and 4
- (b) 3, 1, 5, 4 and 2
- (c) 3, 1, 4, 5 and 2
- (d) 1, 3, 5, 2 and 4
Answer(d) 1, 3, 5, 2 and 4
The first item after the English-only block, and the paper’s next question answered by an ordering — there, of historical events rather than of sentence fragments.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the following to form a grammatically correct sentence : 1. the officer signed 2. although he had doubts 3. the file that evening 4. without recording a note
- (a)2, 1, 3 and 4
- (b)1, 2, 3 and 4
- (c)3, 1, 2 and 4
- (d)4, 3, 1 and 2
Answer(a) 2, 1, 3 and 4 — ‘Although he had doubts, the officer signed the file that evening without recording a note’ fronts the reduced concessive clause beside the subject it describes, keeps the verb next to its object, and leaves the manner phrase at the end. Option (b) drops the concessive clause between the verb and its object, option (c) strands the object in front of the subject, and option (d) opens with the manner phrase and leaves the rest without a workable order.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which sentence places the reduced clause correctly ?
- (a)Weak in health, the report was submitted late by the officer
- (b)The report was submitted late by the officer, weak in health
- (c)Weak in health, the officer submitted the report late
- (d)The report, weak in health, was submitted late by the officer
Answer(c) Weak in health, the officer submitted the report late — the reduced clause sits immediately before the noun it describes. Options (a) and (d) attach it to the report, and option (b) leaves it at the end where the nearest noun is again the wrong one.