NDA (II) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 45 of 146

Correct — B, RQPS. R ('the history of') is the complement the verb 'is' needs, and because it ends in the preposition 'of' it must be followed at once by a noun. Q ('continuous change') is the only bare noun phrase on offer. P then adds a second noun with 'and steady progress', and S ('from barbarism to refinement') closes by naming the direction that change and progress take, giving 'The history of mankind is the history of continuous change and steady progress from barbarism to refinement.'

• (a)PQRS — It opens the complement with 'and steady progress'. A part that begins with 'and' is joining something to what came before it, so it can never be the first of the four.
• (c)QSPR — It leaves 'the history of' at the very end, so the sentence finishes on a preposition with nothing after it, and it also puts 'from barbarism to refinement' ahead of the nouns whose direction it describes.
• (d)SQRP — It begins with 'from barbarism to refinement' straight after 'is', which makes the history of mankind a journey rather than a history of something, and again strands 'the history of' with no noun to follow it.

An ordering item resting on two structural signals — a fragment ending in a preposition needs its noun next, and a fragment beginning with 'and' cannot come first.

Both signals are visible before the sentence is understood at all. 'The history of' cannot be last, because 'of' would be left hanging, and 'and steady progress' cannot be first, because a coordinator joins on to something already said. Between them these two rules leave only option (b). The finished sentence also echoes its own opening, since 'The history of mankind is' is answered by 'the history of', a common rhetorical turn and a useful confirmation once the grammar has done the work.

• A preposition must be followed by its object, so a part ending in 'of' fixes what comes next.
• A part beginning with 'and', 'but' or 'or' joins to something earlier and so cannot open the sequence.
• A 'from … to …' phrase describes a range or a direction and normally follows whatever is moving through it.

• Ordering by meaning first and leaving a preposition stranded at the end.
• Letting a part that starts with 'and' open the sequence.

Asked as an ordering item where the first and last positions are fixed by grammar before any meaning is considered.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange the parts — The strength of a nation lies in / P. and the honesty / Q. the discipline / R. of its institutions / S. of its people. The correct sequence should be

  • (a)QSPR
  • (b)PQRS
  • (c)RQPS
  • (d)SQPR

  Answer(a) QSPR — 'The strength of a nation lies in the discipline of its people and the honesty of its institutions.'

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange the parts — Success is / P. of patience / Q. and hard work / R. the reward / S. sustained over years. The correct sequence should be

  • (a)RPQS
  • (b)PQRS
  • (c)QRPS
  • (d)SRPQ

  Answer(a) RPQS — 'Success is the reward of patience and hard work sustained over years.'