Rearrange the following sentences to form a coherent paragraph: 1. This allows them to navigate and perform tasks with a high degree of precision in various environments, from factory floors to surgical theaters. 2. Robotics is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and computer science that deals with the design, construction, and operation of robots. 3. The core of a modern robot is its programming, which utilizes sophisticated algorithms and sensors to process information. 4. These machines are designed to assist humans by automating tasks that are either repetitive, hazardous, or require a level of accuracy beyond human capability.
- (a)2, 4, 3, 1
- (b)4, 3, 1, 2
- (c)3, 1, 2, 4
- (d)2, 3, 4, 1
Answer
Why
Correct — A. Sentence 2 defines the field, 'Robotics is an interdisciplinary field…', and points back to nothing, so it opens.
4, 'These machines are designed to assist humans', picks up the robots of 2.
3 names the core of a robot: programming that uses algorithms and sensors to process information.
1, 'This allows them to navigate… with a high degree of precision', needs 3 directly before it.
2, 4, 3, 1 → option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)4, 3, 1, 2 — Opens with 'These machines' before any machine is named, and leaves the definition of robotics, sentence 2, for last.
- (c)3, 1, 2, 4 — Opens on the core of 'a modern robot' before the field is defined, and pushes the definition, sentence 2, to third place after the paragraph has described what robots can do.
- (d)2, 3, 4, 1 — Opens correctly with 2 but puts 4 between 3 and 1, so 'This allows them to navigate' would refer to automating tasks. What lets a robot navigate precisely is the programming of sentence 3.
Concept
This paragraph runs definition (2), purpose (4), mechanism (3), then what the mechanism makes possible (1).
Two links fix it. These machines in 4 needs robots named first, so 2 comes before 4. This in 1 needs something that lets a robot navigate precisely, and that is the programming with algorithms and sensors in 3, so 3 sits directly before 1.
A definition that points back to nothing is the opener.
The 3–1 link alone is not enough: options (b) and (c) also keep 3 and 1 together. What rules them out is the opener, since (a) and (d) are the sequences that begin with the definition.
Key facts
- Sentence 2 defines robotics as dealing with 'the design, construction, and operation of robots'.
- These machines is a back-reference, so it must follow the sentence that names robots.
- The this of sentence 1 refers to the programming of sentence 3, so 3 comes immediately before 1.
Study next
Common traps
- Accepting 2, 3, 4, 1 because it opens correctly — the this of sentence 1 then lands on automating tasks, not on the programming.
- Opening with 'These machines' because it sounds like a subject — here these refers back to the robots of sentence 2.
The same shape, a field defined first, a this-chain, and a closing range of uses 'from … to …', decides 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.24 (1, 3, 4, 2).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.