Refer to the following letter series and answer the question that follows.…
2025
Refer to the following letter series and answer the question that follows. Counting is to be done from left to right only.
(Left) V D A O T G U K E Z B Q Y C S F H J I W M (Right)
How many such vowels are there each of which is immediately preceded by a consonant and also immediately followed by a consonant?
- A.
Three
- B.
One
- C.
Four
- D.
Two
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
In a letter-series question, a letter is said to be 'immediately preceded and followed by a consonant' only when the letter directly to its left AND the letter directly to its right are both consonants; if either neighbour is a vowel, that letter fails the test.
So the working method is to locate every vowel in the given sequence and then check its left neighbour and its right neighbour one by one against this rule, counting only the vowels that pass on both sides.
Numbering the series from left to right — 1-V, 2-D, 3-A, 4-O, 5-T, 6-G, 7-U, 8-K, 9-E, 10-Z, 11-B, 12-Q, 13-Y, 14-C, 15-S, 16-F, 17-H, 18-J, 19-I, 20-W, 21-M — the vowels present are A (3), O (4), U (7), E (9) and I (19). Each is checked below.
A (position 3): left neighbour is D (consonant), right neighbour is O (vowel) — the right side fails the rule, so A is not counted.
O (position 4): left neighbour is A (vowel) — the left side already fails the rule, so O is not counted.
U (position 7): left neighbour is G (consonant), right neighbour is K (consonant) — both sides satisfy the rule, so U is counted.
E (position 9): left neighbour is K (consonant), right neighbour is Z (consonant) — both sides satisfy the rule, so E is counted.
I (position 19): left neighbour is J (consonant), right neighbour is W (consonant) — both sides satisfy the rule, so I is counted.
U, E and I each have a consonant on both sides, giving a total of three qualifying vowels.
As an independent check: of the five vowels in the series, only A and O sit next to another vowel (they are adjacent to each other), so exactly 5 minus 2 equals 3 vowels remain flanked purely by consonants — confirming the count of three.