The spirit of man P. has slowly and painfully surmounted Q. and his growing intelligence R. all the obstacles that have come in his way S. has faced all kinds of dangers
- (a)Q P S R
- (b)S Q P R
- (c)R P Q S
- (d)P R Q S
Correct — B, S Q P R. The opening words 'The spirit of man' are a subject with no verb, so a finite verb phrase has to come next, and S supplies it. Q then brings in a second subject with 'and his growing intelligence', which needs a verb of its own, so P follows; P's verb 'surmounted' is transitive and needs its object, which is R. Assembled, the sentence reads: The spirit of man has faced all kinds of dangers and his growing intelligence has slowly and painfully surmounted all the obstacles that have come in his way.
- (a)Q P S R — Starting with 'and his growing intelligence' joins a second subject to the first before either has a verb, and the sentence is then left with a spare verb phrase and nothing to attach it to.
- (c)R P Q S — R is the object of 'surmounted', so placing it before the verb it belongs to leaves 'all the obstacles' standing straight after the subject with no verb in between.
- (d)P R Q S — This does make a grammatical sentence, but it swaps the two ideas round, crediting the spirit with surmounting obstacles and intelligence with facing dangers. The writer's point is the other way about — courage faces danger, and growing intelligence is what overcomes obstacles — so this order fails on sense rather than on grammar.
These items are solved by finding which part carries the finite verb for the opening subject, and then keeping every verb next to the subject or object it belongs to.
Two of the four choices can be thrown out on grammar alone. The last one has to be settled on meaning, and that is what makes the item hard: 'slowly and painfully surmounted' fits the patient work of intelligence, while 'faced all kinds of dangers' fits the spirit.
- The opening fragment here is a bare noun phrase, so the part after it must contain a finite verb.
- 'Surmounted' is transitive, so R, its object, must follow P immediately.
- 'And his growing intelligence' announces a second subject, which means a second verb phrase has to come after it.
- Stopping at the first order that reads grammatically, without checking whether it says what the sentence means to say.
Asked as a jumbled-parts item in which two orders parse correctly and only one matches the sense.
The exhibition committee P. attractive and useful Q. to make exhibition R. making efforts S. has been The proper sequence should be
- (a) Q S R P
- (b) S R Q P
- (c) Q P S R
- (d) S P Q R
Answer(b) S R Q P
Same skill — the opening fragment is a bare subject, and the part carrying its finite verb has to come first. There 'has been' must follow 'The exhibition committee' before anything else can be added; here 'has faced all kinds of dangers' does the same job for 'The spirit of man'.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to make a correct sentence — The old library / P. and the reading room beside it / Q. has served the town for eighty years / R. was added only last year / S. at the cost of the municipality
- (a)P Q R S
- (b)Q P R S
- (c)R Q P S
- (d)P R Q S
Answer(b) Q P R S — the opening subject takes its verb first, then the second subject brings its own verb and the closing phrase.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to make a correct sentence — The heavy rain / P. all the low-lying fields / Q. and the swollen river / R. has flooded / S. washed away the wooden bridge
- (a)S Q R P
- (b)Q R P S
- (c)P R Q S
- (d)R P S Q
Answer(a) S Q R P — 'The heavy rain washed away the wooden bridge and the swollen river has flooded all the low-lying fields.'