Arrange the following words in the same order in which they would appear in a standard English dictionary: 1. Manifest 2. Meticulous 3. Meridian 4. Merchant.

Introduction / Context:
This question focuses on the alphabetical arrangement of four words that begin with the letter M but diverge in later letters: Manifest, Meticulous, Meridian and Merchant. Sorting them in dictionary order checks the candidate's ability to compare letter sequences and apply lexicographic rules in a systematic way, an important verbal reasoning skill.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Words: 1. Manifest, 2. Meticulous, 3. Meridian, 4. Merchant.
- Standard English dictionary rules apply to determine order.
- We ignore case distinctions and focus only on the spelling sequence.
- There are no duplicate words in the list.

Concept / Approach:
All words begin with M, so we look at the second letter, then the third and so forth. First, group words by their first few letters and then sort within each group. The goal is to identify, at the earliest possible position, the first differing letter between any pair and then decide which word should come first based on the alphabetical position of that letter.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Write the words with initial letters highlighted: Manifest (Ma...), Meticulous (Me...), Meridian (Me...), Merchant (Me...). Step 2: Because a comes before e, Manifest (1) must come before the other three M e... words. So 1 is first. Step 3: For the remaining three, compare Meticulous, Meridian and Merchant. They all start with M e. Step 4: Check the third letter: Meticulous (t), Meridian (r), Merchant (r). So r comes before t, which means Meridian (3) and Merchant (4) come before Meticulous (2). Step 5: Compare Merchant and Meridian, both M e r.... The fourth letters are c in Merchant and i in Meridian. Step 6: Since c comes before i, Merchant (4) comes before Meridian (3). Step 7: Finally, Meticulous (2) with M e t comes after M e r words. Step 8: Therefore, the complete dictionary order is: Manifest (1), Merchant (4), Meridian (3), Meticulous (2), or 1, 4, 3, 2.

Verification / Alternative check:
Write the words in the sequence Manifest, Merchant, Meridian, Meticulous and compare each transition. After Manifest (Ma...) come all M e... words. Among M e... words, M e r... precedes M e t..., so Merchant and Meridian are grouped before Meticulous. Within the M e r group, Merchant (Merc...) precedes Meridian (Meri...) because c comes before i. This ensures that no pair is wrongly ordered and confirms 1, 4, 3, 2 as the correct numeric encoding.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B (2,1,4,3) wrongly places Meticulous before Manifest and also misorders the M e r words. Option C (1,3,2,4) misplaces Merchant at the end. Option D (2,3,4,1) completely ignores the advantage of Manifest starting with Ma. Option E (3,1,4,2) also confuses the internal ordering. Only option A accurately reflects the mechanics of alphabetical comparison.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes compare only the first two letters and then guess, which fails when words like Merchant and Meridian diverge at the fourth letter. Another pitfall is mixing up indices when converting the derived ordering back into the numeric code. To avoid mistakes, write down the actual words in sorted order first, then carefully map them to their corresponding numbers.

Final Answer:
The correct alphabetical order of the given words corresponds to the sequence 1, 4, 3, 2.