EPFO EO/AO 2023 General Ability Test · Question 5 of 120

Correct — B, (b) RQPS, so the paragraph runs S1 – R – Q – P – S – S6. Start at the closed end. S6 opens ‘This is the real danger of periodization…’, and ‘this’ has to name a danger stated in the sentence just before. Only S states one: failure to detect the discontinuities gives a false sense of uniformity and consensus within a period. So S occupies position 5. S in turn cannot stand alone. It begins ‘Failure to detect these discontinuities’, and ‘these discontinuities’ is a definite backward pointer with exactly one antecedent in the set — P’s ‘important discontinuities to be kept in mind’. P and S are therefore a welded pair in that order, filling positions 4 and 5. That single finding disposes of (a), which separates them, of (c), which puts them first and ends on R, and of (d), which reverses them. The front half then falls out. R expands S1 by naming the periods scholars work in — Medieval, Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian, Modern — which is what ‘divided into different periods’ means in practice. Q follows R because ‘Each period’ is a definite distributive phrase that needs the periods already before the reader, and because Q states the case for periodization: shared features, family resemblances among the writers of a period. P’s ‘However’ then turns exactly that claim around, which is the one thing a contrastive connector must do — react to the sentence in front of it. The argument therefore runs: periods exist as scholarly practice, they do capture real resemblances, but the discontinuities matter, and missing them produces the false uniformity that S6 calls the real danger of periodization.

• (a)PQRS — PQRS opens with ‘However’, a connector that must reverse something already said, when nothing has yet been claimed for periodization — S1 merely reports that the history of English literature is usually divided into periods. It also breaks the P–S pair by putting Q and R between them, so ‘these discontinuities’ in S has to reach back three sentences, and R’s list of period names arrives after the argument about discontinuity has already begun.
• (c)PSQR — PSQR keeps P and S together, which is why it survives a quick look, but it puts them at positions 2 and 3 and closes on R. That leaves S6’s ‘This is the real danger of periodization’ pointing at ‘Scholars often specialize in periods such as Medieval, Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian, and Modern literature’ — a statement of academic practice, not a danger. It also opens with the same unmotivated ‘However’ as (a).
• (d)RSPQ — RSPQ gets the opening right and then reverses the welded pair: S arrives at position 3 with ‘these discontinuities’ before P has mentioned any discontinuities at all, so the demonstrative points at nothing. Ending on Q is a second fault — the paragraph would close on the family resemblances that hold within a period, and S6 would then call that the real danger, which inverts the author’s argument.

Periodization is the practice of cutting a continuous literary history into named stretches — Medieval, Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian, Modern — so that scholars can specialise and students can navigate. The passage makes the standard two-sided case: the divisions capture something real, because writers working at the same time do share preoccupations and manners, yet the boundaries are conveniences imposed on a continuum, and treating them as natural categories flattens the disagreements and the breaks inside each stretch. As a language item, though, what is being tested is the handling of a contrastive turn. The paragraph has a for-and-against shape: R and Q state the case for, P turns it with ‘however’, S draws out the cost, S6 names it. Recognising that shape is what makes the ordering mechanical, because a contrastive connector cannot precede the claim it contradicts, and a demonstrative — ‘these discontinuities’, ‘This is the real danger’ — cannot precede what it names. Two rules, four sentences, one order.

Q5 closes the five-item rearrangement set that opens Part A of the EO/AO General Ability Test. Like Q2 to Q4 it prints only its six sentences; the Directions block stands above Q1. One printing point is worth knowing, because it can unsettle a careful reader. Sentence S is printed as ‘Failure to detect these discontinuities often produce a false sense of uniformity…’. The subject of that clause is the singular ‘Failure’, so standard English would be ‘produces’. The booklet prints ‘produce’, and the sentence is reproduced here exactly as printed. It is not a hidden part of the question — this is a rearrangement item, not the spotting-errors set that begins at Q6, and no option turns on it. A candidate who notices the slip should register it and move on rather than hunt for a trick.

• S6 begins ‘This is the real danger of periodization’, so position five must be filled by a sentence that states a danger; only S does.
• S’s ‘these discontinuities’ points back to P’s ‘important discontinuities’, welding P and S together in that order at positions four and five.
• P’s ‘However’ is contrastive and must follow the claim it reverses, which is Q’s statement that each period has unique features producing family resemblances.
• Q’s ‘Each period’ presupposes that periods are already before the reader, which R supplies by naming Medieval, Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian and Modern.
• The booklet prints ‘often produce’ in sentence S where the singular subject ‘Failure’ calls for ‘produces’; the sentence is reproduced as printed and no option depends on it.

• Letting a sentence that opens with ‘However’ take the first position. A contrast needs something to contrast with, and S1 in this item makes no claim to reverse.
• Splitting a demonstrative from its antecedent. ‘These discontinuities’ has exactly one possible source, and any option that does not place it directly after P is out.
• Reading only the front of the sequence. Options (a) and (d) differ from the answer chiefly at the back, where S6’s ‘This’ silently rejects them.
• Being distracted by the printed ‘often produce’ in sentence S. It is a slip in the booklet, not a clue, and correcting it changes no option.

This is the fifth and last item of the rearrangement set, and the examiner has again chosen a passage whose closing given sentence begins with a pointer — ‘This is the real danger…’ — exactly as Q2 closes with ‘Naturally, therefore, these areas…’. Working the S6 joint first is the single most productive habit for this set: two of the five given closing sentences — this one and Q2’s — begin with a demonstrative that points straight at the sentence before them, and in the other three the argument S6 makes still narrows position five to one candidate. Subjects across the five range over field geology, colonial infrastructure, historiography, tax policy and literary criticism, so no reading background is assumed and none helps.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  S1 : Examination results in the district are usually reported school by school. S6 : This is the real weakness of such tables, which suggest sharp differences where there are none. P : However the margins separating one school from the next are often smaller than the error of measurement. Q : Each school has a settled character that shows up in the performance of its candidates year after year. R : Officials routinely rank institutions in bands such as excellent, good, average and poor. S : Ignoring these margins produces a false impression of a clear order of merit. Select the proper sequence.

  • (a)PQRS
  • (b)RQPS
  • (c)PSQR
  • (d)RSPQ

  Answer(b) RQPS — R expands S1 by naming the bands, Q states the case for ranking, P reverses it with ‘However’, and S’s ‘these margins’ points back to P while supplying the false impression that S6 then calls the real weakness.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The given final sentence of a jumbled passage begins ‘This is the real danger of periodization.’ Which jumbled sentence must immediately precede it ?

  • (a)The one that names the historical periods
  • (b)The one that states a harmful consequence
  • (c)The one that begins with a contrastive connector
  • (d)The longest one, since it will carry the most information

  Answer(b) The one that states a harmful consequence — ‘This’ is a demonstrative summarising the previous sentence and the predicate calls it a danger, so the sentence before must describe something damaging. Naming the periods, opening with a contrast, or being longest tells you nothing about that slot.