Directions: In this section each item consists of six sentences that comprise a passage. The first and sixth sentences are given in the beginning as S1 and S6. The sequence of the middle four sentences has been jumbled up and labelled as P, Q, R and S. You are required to find the proper sequence of the four sentences and mark your response accordingly on the Answer Sheet.
S1: The first American settlers happened to live in the midst of perhaps the most exciting period in the history of the English language.
S6: Had the settlers gone a quarter of a century earlier, America might well have preserved those previous forms, as it preserved many other archaisms.
P: Similarly, thee and thou pronoun forms were also dying out.
Q: This was a time when 12,000 words were being added to the language.
R: One such change which these first settlers had already adopted was to use the s form on verbs, saying has rather than hath, runs rather than runneth.
S: It was also a time of considerable change in the structure of the language.
- AR P Q S
- BQ S R P
- CS Q P R
- DQ P R S
Explanation
The correct order is Q S R P. S1 introduces the exciting period in English; Q gives the headline fact (12,000 new words); S adds that structure was changing too; R gives one such change (s-forms replacing hath/runneth); P adds a parallel change with “Similarly” (thee/thou dying out); S6 reflects on what earlier settlers would have preserved. This is option (b).