NDA (II) 2022 GAT Q24: a way of understanding the world, P / a language represents

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2022 GAT Q24?

D. Correct — D, QPSR. The sentence reads 'A language represents (Q) a way of understanding the world, (P) differentiating between things (S) and relating them to one another (R).' Q supplies the subject and verb, P is the object of 'represents', and the two -ing phrases then explain how, with S before R because 'them' in R refers back to the 'things' named in S.

NDA (II) 2022 General Ability Test · Question 24 of 150

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

a way of understanding the world, P / a language represents Q / and relating them to one another R / differentiating between things S

(a)PSRQ
(b)SRPQ
(c)RSPQ
(d)QPSR

Answer

Why

Correct — D, QPSR. The sentence reads 'A language represents (Q) a way of understanding the world, (P) differentiating between things (S) and relating them to one another (R).' Q supplies the subject and verb, P is the object of 'represents', and the two -ing phrases then explain how, with S before R because 'them' in R refers back to the 'things' named in S.

Why the others are wrong

(a)PSRQ — This ends the sentence on 'a language represents', leaving that verb without an object, and it opens on a noun phrase that has no verb.
(b)SRPQ — 'Differentiating between things' is a participial phrase needing a main clause to hang on, so placing it first leaves it unattached, and 'represents' again closes with nothing after it.
(c)RSPQ — R begins with 'and', so it cannot open a sentence, and this order also puts the pronoun 'them' before the noun 'things' that it stands for.

Concept

A sentence-ordering item in which a main clause is followed by two parallel participial phrases.

Pronoun reference decides the tail. 'Them' in R can only mean the 'things' named in S, so S has to come first, and the 'and' at the start of R marks it as the second half of a pair rather than the opening of a sentence. That leaves the clause Q and its object P to lead.

Study next

Participial phrases attached to a main clausePronoun and antecedent order used as an ordering clueParallel structure in phrases joined by 'and'

Common traps

Letting a part that begins with 'and' open the sentence.
Placing a pronoun before the noun it refers back to.

Asked as an ordering-of-words item — choose the sequence that makes one coherent sentence.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to form a coherent sentence — (P) sorting them by size (Q) the machine reads the coins (R) and rejecting the damaged ones (S) in a single pass
- (a)QSPR
- (b)PQRS
- (c)RSPQ
- (d)SPQR
Answer(a) QSPR — 'The machine reads the coins in a single pass, sorting them by size and rejecting the damaged ones.'
practice — not a real PYQ
Arrange the parts to form a coherent sentence — (P) the squirrel spends the autumn (Q) gathering nuts (R) from the forest floor (S) and storing them for winter
- (a)QRSP
- (b)PQRS
- (c)SRQP
- (d)RPQS
Answer(b) PQRS — 'The squirrel spends the autumn gathering nuts from the forest floor and storing them for winter.'