NDA (I) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 46 of 149

Correct — B, P S Q R. In this section each label stands immediately after the part it names. So (P) is 'Sports cars', (S) is 'with noisy exhausts', (Q) is 'appeal' and (R) is 'to some motorists only'. Reading P S Q R gives 'Sports cars with noisy exhausts appeal to some motorists only', because 'with noisy exhausts' describes the cars and must sit right after them, while 'appeal' takes its own 'to' phrase.

• (a)R Q S P — This leaves the subject 'Sports cars' at the very end behind the verb and both phrases, which is not a possible English order.
• (c)R S P Q — Two phrases are piled in front of the subject, and 'with noisy exhausts' ends up beside 'motorists', suggesting the motorists have the exhausts.
• (d)P Q S R — Moving 'with noisy exhausts' after the verb turns it into a description of how the cars appeal, and the real complement 'to some motorists only' is pushed away from its verb.

A word-order item on a prepositional phrase that modifies the subject and must stand next to it.

A phrase beginning with 'with' can describe a noun or a manner. Testing which noun it belongs to before placing it is what separates the two workable-looking sequences here.

• Attaching a 'with' phrase to the nearest noun instead of the intended one.

Asked as an ordering item where a modifier has to be returned to the noun it describes.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange the parts. The house (P) stands (Q) on the hill (R) with the red roof (S). The proper sequence should be

  • (a)P Q R S
  • (b)P S Q R
  • (c)R S P Q
  • (d)P Q S R

  Answer(b) P S Q R — 'The house with the red roof stands on the hill.'

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange the parts. The boy (P) won (Q) the first prize (R) in the blue shirt (S). The proper sequence should be

  • (a)P S Q R
  • (b)P Q R S
  • (c)P Q S R
  • (d)S P Q R

  Answer(a) P S Q R — 'The boy in the blue shirt won the first prize.'