with the aplomb of a stage artist, (P) that they are not men of straw (Q) they can twist and shake their wobbly heads (R) mesmerizing the gullible into believing (S) The correct sequence should be
- (a)PRQS
- (b)RPSQ
- (c)SPQR
- (d)QRPS
Correct — B, RPSQ. Reassembled, the parts read 'They can twist and shake their wobbly heads (R) with the aplomb of a stage artist, (P) mesmerizing the gullible into believing (S) that they are not men of straw (Q).' R is the main clause, P adds the manner, S the participial effect, and Q the belief created, so the order is RPSQ.
- (a)PRQS — Opening with P ('with the aplomb of a stage artist,') starts on an adverbial phrase before any main clause, and it puts Q before S, breaking the link 'believing that'.
- (c)SPQR — Opening with S ('mesmerizing the gullible into believing') begins on a participial phrase that has no subject before it.
- (d)QRPS — Opening with Q ('that they are not men of straw') begins on a subordinate 'that' clause, which cannot start the sentence.
A sentence-ordering (parajumble) item — the four labelled parts must be arranged so that subject, verb and modifiers follow in one grammatical, meaningful order.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to form a coherent sentence: (P) a beautiful song (Q) she sang (R) the function (S) at.
- (a)PQRS
- (b)SQPR
- (c)RQPS
- (d)QPSR
Answer(d) QPSR — 'She sang a beautiful song at the function.'
- practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to form a coherent sentence: (P) in the park (Q) the children (R) happily (S) played.
- (a)QSRP
- (b)SQRP
- (c)PQRS
- (d)RSQP
Answer(a) QSRP — 'The children played happily in the park.'