In the following question, the 1st and the last part of the sentence/passage…
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In the following question, the 1st and the last part of the sentence/passage are numbered 1 and 6. The rest of the sentence/passage is split into four parts and named P, Q, R and S. These four parts are not given in their proper order. Read the sentence and find out which of the four combinations is correct.
1) Once upon a time I went to Scotland.
P. I found my flesh creep as I walked down its sinister corridor.
Q. There, in a castle in the dark, misty highlands, actually a modest hotel in Edinbough.
R. and the next morning he'd been found with his throat slit.
S. We'd had dinner with Jock Mc. Arthur only the previous night.
6) The chill finger of suspicion pointed at all of us.
- A.
QPSR
- B.
SRQP
- C.
PQSR
- D.
QRSP
Attempted by 28 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Answer: Q–P–S–R
Step 1: Q follows the opening sentence because it gives the setting: 'There, in a castle in the dark, misty highlands...' completes 'Once upon a time I went to Scotland.'
Step 2: P follows Q because P says 'I found my flesh creep as I walked down its sinister corridor.' The pronoun 'its' refers to the castle introduced in Q, so P must come after Q.
Step 3: S comes next because it introduces a person with whom they had dinner: 'We'd had dinner with Jock Mc. Arthur only the previous night.'
Step 4: R follows S because R continues that thought: 'and the next morning he'd been found with his throat slit.' R reports what happened to the person introduced in S.
Conclusion: The sequence Q → P → S → R preserves pronoun references ('its' → castle) and temporal/logical order ('only the previous night' → 'the next morning'), so Q–P–S–R is the correct arrangement.