Parts of a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the parts in the correct order to form a meaningful sentence. (a) one of the primary obstacles encountered (b) is the risk of sample contamination (c) during the analysis of controlled dangerous substance (CDS) (d) from improper handling and collecting methodologies (e) proof bloodstain patterns and DNA evidence

Correct — A. Start with the subject.

Part (a), one of the primary obstacles encountered, is a noun phrase with no finite verb, and encountered is a participle waiting for its place, so part (c), during the analysis of controlled dangerous substance (CDS), must follow it.

Part (e), proof bloodstain patterns and DNA evidence, extends that same list of things being analysed, so it stays beside (c).

The subject still has no verb. Part (b), is the risk of sample contamination, supplies it, and part (d), from improper handling and collecting methodologies, names where the contamination comes from, so it attaches directly to (b).

Read a-c-e-b-d straight through and it is one sentence: option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  abcde — abcde drops the verb (b) straight after the subject head, which strands part (e) at the very end as a bare noun phrase with nothing to attach to.
• (c)
  eacdb — eacdb opens on part (e), a list fragment with no subject of its own, and pushes the verb (b) to the end, so 'from improper handling' is cut off from the contamination it describes.
• (d)
  aecdb — aecdb splits encountered from its 'during' phrase by dropping (e) between them. The participle needs part (c) immediately, and (e) belongs after that list has been opened.

Jumbled-parts items are settled by grammar, not by the sense of the story. Three checks do it.

Find the part that can open a sentence, find the finite verb, and then make sure every modifier lands next to the word it modifies.

Here the subject head is 'one of the primary obstacles' and the finite verb is the is that begins part (b). Everything else is a modifier looking for its anchor.

What makes the item hard is the distance between them: a prepositional phrase and a list sit between the subject and its verb.

Key facts

• The subject head is 'one of the primary obstacles', which takes the singular verb 'is'.
• 'Encountered' is a past participle modifying obstacles, so its 'during' phrase follows it immediately.
• 'From improper handling and collecting methodologies' modifies 'contamination' and must follow it.
• The finished sentence runs a-c-e-b-d.

Common traps

• Putting the verb straight after the subject head and stranding the last part
• Assuming the parts are already close to their order and choosing abcde
• Separating 'contamination' from the 'from' phrase that names its cause

No directly related past PYQ was found.