Directions: In the following question, there is a sentence given with four…
2025
Directions: In the following question, there is a sentence given with four words marked as (A), (B), (C) and (D). These words may or may not be placed in their correct order. Four options with different arrangements of these words are given. Mark the option with the correct arrangement as your answer. If no rearrangement is required, mark option (5) as your answer.
Despite the eagerness (A) seen among parents and students towards schools, children’s basic literacy (B) levels have taken a big hit, with their reading ability as compared (C) to numeracy skills declining (D) much more sharply and dropping to pre-2012 levels.
Answer: E. No rearrangement required — Concept: In word-rearrangement questions like this one, four words in a sentence are marked (A)-(D). The task is to check whether every marked word already…
- A.
A-B
- B.
D-A
- C.
C-B
- D.
C-D
- E.
No rearrangement required
Attempted by 24 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: E
Concept: In word-rearrangement questions like this one, four words in a sentence are marked (A)-(D). The task is to check whether every marked word already occupies its correct grammatical slot -- as a noun, a modifier, or a participle -- so that the sentence's subject, its comparative phrase, and its participial clause all stay intact. Test each offered swap: if trading two marked words breaks grammatical agreement or destroys the meaning, that swap is wrong. If the original order already reads as one coherent, grammatical sentence and every offered swap breaks it, the correct answer is that no rearrangement is required.
Checking each marked word in its given place:
eagerness (A) is the head noun of "the eagerness seen among parents and students towards schools" -- correctly a noun following "the", modified by the participle "seen".
literacy (B) correctly modifies "levels" in "children's basic literacy levels" -- a standard noun-noun compound, just like "literacy levels" is normally used.
compared (C) completes the standard comparative phrase "as compared to numeracy skills".
declining (D) is the main participle governing "much more sharply and dropping to pre-2012 levels" -- describing what is happening to reading ability.
Testing each offered swap confirms none of them work:
A-B: gives "the literacy seen among parents and students" and "children's basic eagerness levels" -- "eagerness levels" is not an idiomatic collocation, and "literacy seen among" makes no sense.
D-A: gives "the declining seen among parents and students" and "...to numeracy skills eagerness much more sharply" -- "declining" cannot sit as a plain noun after "the", and "eagerness much more sharply" is meaningless.
C-B: gives "children's basic compared levels" and "reading ability as literacy to numeracy skills declining" -- "compared" cannot function as an adjective before "levels", and "as literacy to numeracy skills" breaks the comparison structure.
C-D: gives "reading ability as declining to numeracy skills" and "...skills compared much more sharply and dropping" -- "declining" cannot slot into the "as ___ to" comparison, and "compared much more sharply" does not pair naturally with "and dropping".
Cross-check: Reading the sentence straight through with all four words in their original places: parents and students are keen on schooling, yet children's foundational literacy has suffered, with reading ability -- as compared to numeracy skills -- declining much more sharply and dropping to pre-2012 levels. This is one complete, coherent statement with no broken agreement and no dangling phrase.
Answer: Since every marked word is already in its correct grammatical slot, and every offered swap breaks the sentence, no rearrangement is required.