Even a leisurely game like cricket P. demanding grace rather than strength Q. and over the rough tactics of the Australian team that visited England in 1921 R. as we saw in the controversy over body-line bowling S. can cause much ill-will
- (a)P S R Q
- (b)R S P Q
- (c)S R Q P
- (d)Q P R S
Correct — A, P S R Q. P is a participial phrase describing cricket, so it sits right after the opening words; S then supplies the finite verb the subject still lacks. R opens the illustration with 'as we saw in the controversy over ...', and Q begins with 'and over', which can only continue R's list of the things that controversy was about. The sentence reads: Even a leisurely game like cricket, demanding grace rather than strength, can cause much ill-will, as we saw in the controversy over body-line bowling and over the rough tactics of the Australian team that visited England in 1921.
- (b)R S P Q — It starts with 'as we saw', which points back to a statement that has not been made yet, and it breaks the pair R and Q that the words 'and over' weld together.
- (c)S R Q P — The finite verb arrives before the participial phrase that describes cricket, so 'demanding grace rather than strength' is stranded at the very end with no noun beside it to describe.
- (d)Q P R S — It opens with 'and over', a fragment that cannot begin a sentence, and it pushes the main verb of the sentence into last place.
The decisive clue is the words each part begins with. 'And over' can only follow another 'over' phrase, and a participial phrase has to sit beside the noun it describes.
The stem dates the Australian touring team to 1921 and mentions body-line bowling in the same breath. Body-line belongs to a different series — England's 1932-33 Ashes tour of Australia, where Douglas Jardine's side used the tactic — while Australian teams did tour England in 1921. The printed sentence therefore joins two separate episodes, but the ordering logic does not rest on the date at all.
- Body-line bowling was the tactic devised by the English team for their 1932-33 Ashes tour of Australia.
- Douglas Jardine captained that England side and Harold Larwood was the fast bowler who carried the tactic out.
- An Australian side did tour England in 1921, so the year in the stem is a real tour year, just not the body-line one.
- Trying to solve the item from the cricket history in the stem instead of from the way the parts are worded.
Asked as a jumbled-parts item where a part beginning with 'and' fixes which part must come just before it.
The essay P. like that of the human face Q. because its variety is infinite R. is a literary form S. which is not easy to define The proper sequence should be
- (a) P Q R S
- (b) P Q S R
- (c) R S Q P
- (d) R S P Q
Answer(c) R S Q P
Same skill — the opening noun phrase needs its verb first, and after that each part is placed by the words it begins with. There 'which' ties S to 'a literary form' and 'because' ties Q to the difficulty just stated; here 'and over' ties Q to R.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to make a correct sentence — Even a quiet neighbourhood / P. needing little more than patience / Q. and over the parking of cars on the footpath / R. as we saw in the long quarrel over the boundary wall / S. can turn bitter
- (a)S P R Q
- (b)P S R Q
- (c)R P S Q
- (d)Q R P S
Answer(b) P S R Q — the participial phrase hugs the subject, the verb follows, and 'and over' closes the pair with R.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to make a correct sentence — The village fair / P. and over the choice of the chief guest / Q. brings the whole district together / R. though it lasts only three days / S. despite the yearly argument over the stalls
- (a)R Q S P
- (b)P S R Q
- (c)Q R P S
- (d)S P Q R
Answer(a) R Q S P — 'and over the choice of the chief guest' can only follow the 'over' phrase in S.