NDA (II) 2019 General Ability Test · Question 39 of 148

Correct — D, P S Q R. Read in order the parts form 'Humans and machines have co-existed at the physical level for millennia, dating back to the invention of the potter's wheel in ancient Mesopotamia.' P states the subject and main verb ('humans and machines have co-existed'), S adds the manner and time ('at the physical level for millennia'), Q opens the participial phrase ('dating back to the invention of'), and R names what was invented ('the potter's wheel in ancient Mesopotamia').

• (a)R S P Q — Beginning with R ('the potter's wheel in ancient Mesopotamia') puts an object first with no verb, and ends on the dangling 'dating back to the invention of'.
• (b)Q S P R — Opening with the participial 'dating back to the invention of' leaves it with nothing to modify at the start of the sentence.
• (c)Q R P S — Also begins with the participial Q and separates the main clause P from the time phrase S that belongs right after it.

A jumbled-sentence item: the main clause and its time phrase come first, then a 'dating back to' participial trails to name the earliest example.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange: P: trade routes have linked distant cultures; Q: dating back to the founding of; R: the Silk Road across Central Asia; S: for many centuries

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

  Answer(a) P S Q R — 'Trade routes have linked distant cultures for many centuries, dating back to the founding of the Silk Road across Central Asia.'

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange: P: writing systems have recorded human thought; Q: dating back to the development of; R: cuneiform in ancient Sumer; S: for thousands of years

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

  Answer(a) P S Q R — 'Writing systems have recorded human thought for thousands of years, dating back to the development of cuneiform in ancient Sumer.'