Read the following information and answer the question that follows. i. P, Q,…
2026
Read the following information and answer the question that follows.
i. P, Q, R, S, T, U and V are seven friends sitting in a circle, facing the centre.
ii. V is second to the left of S and is the neighbour of T and U.
iii. S is not a neighbour of R or T.
iv. P is a neighbour of Q and R.
Which of the following is correct?
- A.
Q is between P and S.
- B.
S is between U and P.
- C.
T is to the immediate right of V.
- D.
U is to the immediate left of V.
Attempted by 70 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: When everyone in a circular arrangement faces the centre, moving clockwise (as seen from above) is each person's own left, and moving anticlockwise is their own right. So "second to the left of X" means two seats clockwise from X, and "immediate right of X" means the seat one place anticlockwise from X. Fix the clues one at a time, checking each new placement against every clue already used, until the whole circle is pinned down.
Applying this to the seven friends, seat by seat:
Fix S at a reference seat. Since V is second to the left of S, V sits two seats clockwise from S, with exactly one seat between them.
V's two neighbours are T and U. The seat between S and V (immediately clockwise of S) is one of these two neighbours; since S cannot be next to T, that in-between seat must be U — giving the clockwise run S, U, V.
V's other neighbour, immediately clockwise of V, must then be T, extending the run to S, U, V, T.
The remaining three seats (continuing clockwise from T back around to S) hold P, Q and R. Since P is a neighbour of both Q and R, P must sit in the middle of this block, with Q and R on either side of it.
Of the two seats flanking P, one closes the circle back to S. Since S cannot be next to R, that closing seat must hold Q, which leaves R in the seat next to T.
This pins down the full clockwise order: S, U, V, T, R, P, Q, and back to S.
Cross-check against every clue:
V sits two seats clockwise (second to the left) of S, and its neighbours are U and T — satisfies clue (ii).
S's own neighbours in this order are Q and U, so S is next to neither R nor T — satisfies clue (iii).
P's neighbours are R and Q — satisfies clue (iv).
Reading each statement against this fixed order: "Q is between P and S" matches exactly, since P and S are the two seats flanking Q. "S is between U and P" fails, because S's actual neighbours are Q and U, not P. "T is to the immediate right of V" also fails: by the convention above, T is the seat immediately clockwise of V, which is V's immediate LEFT, not its right. Likewise "U is to the immediate left of V" fails, since U sits anticlockwise of V — V's immediate RIGHT, not its left. So the only statement that holds is that Q sits between P and S.