Rearrange the following sentences in the proper sequence to form a meaningful…
Rearrange the following sentences in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph.
A. During one exhibition, however, some air became mixed with the hydrogen, and in the words of the shaken performer: “The explosion was so dreadful that I imagined all my teeth had been blown out!”
B. An entertainer would finish his acts by blowing the hydrogen he had inhaled towards a lighted candle; as the hydrogen caught fire, flames would shoot menacingly from his lips.
C. A paper bag filled with hydrogen amazed guests by zooming off into space.
D. When people learned about its unique lighter-than-air property, they began to use it in all sorts of parlor stunts.
Answer: A. DCBA — Concept: A sentence-rearrangement (para-jumble) is solved by first finding the OPENING sentence — the one that makes a general, self-contained claim and does…
- A.
DCBA
- B.
DBAC
- C.
CABD
- D.
ACBD
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept:
A sentence-rearrangement (para-jumble) is solved by first finding the OPENING sentence — the one that makes a general, self-contained claim and does not depend on any of the other sentences for its meaning — and then tracing how each remaining sentence's specific incident links back, through pronouns (‘he’, ‘the performer’) and connectors (‘however’), to what has already been introduced.
Application:
D opens the paragraph: alone among the four sentences, it makes a general claim about the property and its everyday uses (‘all sorts of parlor stunts’) without depending on any specific incident from A, B, or C — A, B, and C each build on something introduced earlier, so only D is free to stand first.
C follows D directly, giving the first concrete illustration of a parlor stunt — a paper bag filled with hydrogen zooming into space — continuing straight from ‘they began to use it in all sorts of parlor stunts’.
B introduces a second, more specific stunt and, crucially, a specific person (‘an entertainer’, ‘his lips’) who is needed before he can be referred to again.
A closes the paragraph: ‘the shaken performer’ can only be understood because B has already introduced the entertainer, and ‘during one exhibition, however’ marks the twist that ends the anecdote.
Cross-check:
Reading D → C → B → A end to end produces a single unbroken narrative where each specific incident (C, then B, then A) builds in escalating detail on the general claim in D, with every pronoun and reference resolved in order — confirming this is the only fully consistent sequence among the four sequences offered.
Why the other sequences break down:
The sequence DBAC drops the paper-bag illustration (C) to the very end, after the entertainer’s accident has already closed the anecdote — stranding an earlier, unrelated example after the story’s climax.
The sequence CABD places ‘the shaken performer’ (A) immediately after C, before the entertainer has been introduced at all in B — there is no antecedent yet for ‘the performer’.
The sequence ACBD opens with A, whose ‘however’ and ‘the shaken performer’ both presuppose an earlier sentence that does not exist in this order, so A cannot be the opening line.