Sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the sentences in the correct order to form a meaningful and coherent paragraph. A. However, their population is declining nowadays due to noise pollution. B. It is one of the most common birds along with the other two species, the European starling, and the rock pigeon. C. Their constant presence outside our homes makes it easy to overlook them. D. House sparrows can be found in most places with and without houses (or other structures).

Correct — B. D must open: it is the sentence that names "House sparrows" in full, and the rest all need that antecedent before they can be read.

B follows D because its subject is "It" — the bird D has just introduced — and it widens the frame to the two other common species.

C follows B: being one of the most common birds is exactly why "their constant presence" goes unnoticed.

A closes on "However", a contrast that only lands once the bird has been called common. That order is DBCA, option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  DABC — A cannot sit second. Its "However" needs an established positive claim to push against, and D alone has not yet said the sparrow is common or unnoticed.
• (c)
  DACB — Same fault — A at position two breaks the contrast — and it also strands B's pronoun "It" after C has already moved to the plural "their".
• (d)
  BDCA — B cannot open. Its subject is the pronoun "It", which has no antecedent until D names the house sparrow.

Para-jumbles are settled by cohesion markers, not by which story sounds best.

A full noun phrase ("House sparrows") opens, because a pronoun ("It", "their") can only follow the noun it stands for.

A contrast connector ("However") needs something to contrast with, so it almost never opens and very often closes.

Fix the first sentence by the noun test, then chain each remaining sentence to whichever one satisfies its pronoun or its connector. The options eliminate themselves after that.

Key facts

• A sentence opening with a bare pronoun such as "It", "They" or "Their" cannot be the first sentence of a jumbled paragraph.
• "However" marks a contrast with something already stated, so it points backwards and rarely opens a paragraph.
• In DBCA the chain runs noun (D) to pronoun "It" (B) to pronoun "their" (C) to the contrast "However" (A).

Common traps

• Reading for the most natural story instead of testing what B's pronoun "It" requires in front of it.
• Assuming the "However" sentence belongs in the middle rather than at the end.

No directly related past PYQ was found.