Given below are four jumbled sentences. Select the option that gives their correct order. A. Faced with the high cost and scarcity of Indian indigo; European manufacturers were forced to rely on the woad plant for their dyeing needs. B. However, cloth dyers still preferred indigo, as it produced a significantly richer and more vibrant blue than woad ever could. C. Since woad thrived in temperate climates, it was readily available and easily cultivated throughout Europe. D. Indian indigo was prohibitively expensive, and only meager quantities ever reached European markets.

Correct — B. D opens: it states the problem, that 'Indian indigo was prohibitively expensive'.

A reacts to it. 'Faced with the high cost and scarcity of Indian indigo' repeats D's two facts, and A introduces the woad plant.

C explains why woad served: it 'was readily available and easily cultivated throughout Europe'.

B turns with However: cloth dyers 'still preferred indigo'. D-A-C-B → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  BCAD — Opens with However, which must turn against an earlier statement. A paragraph cannot open by contrasting with nothing.
• (c)
  CBAD — Opens with C, which explains woad's advantages before any sentence has introduced woad or said why Europe needed it. D, the cause, is left to the end.
• (d)
  ABCD — A's 'Faced with the high cost and scarcity' refers back to facts that D states. Opening at A puts the reaction before its cause.

Order a jumbled paragraph by its links, not its topics.

A sentence that names its subject in full and points back to nothing can open: D, on Indian indigo.

An echo points back: A's 'high cost and scarcity' picks up D's 'prohibitively expensive' and 'only meager quantities'.

A connector such as However must follow the point it contrasts with: B comes after the switch to woad.

Key facts

• A sentence that points back ('Faced with the high cost', 'However') cannot open the paragraph.
• However contrasts with what comes before it, so in a four-sentence jumble it cannot come first.
• In this paragraph woad is the European substitute for costly Indian indigo, though dyers still preferred indigo's blue.

Common traps

• Starting with A because it names both indigo and woad — its 'Faced with the high cost and scarcity' assumes the reader already knows about the cost
• Starting with the However sentence because it mentions indigo early — However needs a statement before it

No directly related past PYQ was found.