The question below has six sentences of a paragraph with the first and the…
2025
The question below has six sentences of a paragraph with the first and the last sentence being in the correct place. Rearrange the four sentences A,B,C,D in order to form a coherent paragraph.
1. In the sciences, even questionable examples of research fraud are harshly punished.
A. But no such mechanism exists in the humanities-much of what humanities researchers call research does not lead to results that are replicable by other scholars.
B. Given the importance of interpretation in historical and literary scholarship, humanities researchers are in a position where they can explain away deliberate and even systematic distortion.
C. Mere suspicion is enough for funding to be cut off; publicity guarantees that careers can be effectively ended.
D. Forgeries which take the form of pastiches in which the forger intersperses fake and real parts can be defended as mere mistakes or aberrant misreading.
6. Scientists fudging data have no such defences.
- A.
BDCA
- B.
ABDC
- C.
CABD
- D.
CDBA
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
CONCEPT: In a sentence-rearrangement (para-jumble) question, the fixed opening and closing sentences anchor the paragraph's theme, and the correct order of the middle sentences is fixed by tracking connectors (contrast words like 'but'), referential phrases ('such mechanism', 'such defences') that need an antecedent already stated, and the general-to-specific flow of ideas.
APPLICATION: Sentence 1 states the general claim that science harshly punishes research fraud. Sentence C immediately cashes this out with the specific mechanism - funding cut off, careers ended - so C must follow 1. Sentence A then pivots with 'But no such mechanism exists in the humanities'; the 'such mechanism' it negates is exactly the funding/career consequence C just described, so A follows C. Sentence B explains why no such mechanism exists in the humanities - interpretive latitude lets researchers explain away distortion - continuing directly from A. Sentence D supplies the concrete example of that explaining-away: a forgery defended as a mere mistake. The closing sentence 6 then returns to science, and 'such defences' points back to the very defence D just described, completing the contrast. This gives the order 1-C-A-B-D-6, i.e., CABD.
CROSS-CHECK: Reading 1-C-A-B-D-6 straight through, every connector and referential phrase - 'But', 'such mechanism', 'such defences' - has its antecedent in the sentence immediately before it, with no gaps; no other ordering keeps every connector satisfied at the point it is used.