Arrange the following words in the sequence in which they occur in the dictionary: i. Speaker ii. Surreptitious iii. Spontaneous iv. Spurious

Introduction / Context:
In this question, you must arrange four words starting with S in dictionary order: Speaker, Surreptitious, Spontaneous and Spurious. Although they have different prefixes (Sp- vs Su-), it is still essential to compare letters carefully because three of them begin with “Spo-” or “Spe-” and one with “Sur-”.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Words: Speaker (i), Surreptitious (ii), Spontaneous (iii), Spurious (iv).
- We assume standard dictionary order rules.

Concept / Approach:
First, split words by their second letter. Words beginning with “Sp…” come before those beginning with “Su…”, since p comes before u. Among the “Sp…” words, you then compare the third letters: e, o and u. Finally, you place the remaining “Su…” word at the end. This structured approach ensures you do not mix up similar-looking prefixes.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Write initial patterns: Speaker → S p e… Spontaneous → S p o… Spurious → S p u… Surreptitious → S u r… Step 2: Compare the second letters. All except Surreptitious start with “Sp…”. Since p comes before u, all “Sp…” words must come before the “Su…” word. Step 3: Order the three “Sp…” words by the third letter: e (Speaker), o (Spontaneous), u (Spurious). Alphabetically, e < o < u. Step 4: Thus the order of “Sp…” words is Speaker (i), Spontaneous (iii), Spurious (iv). Step 5: Finally, Surreptitious (ii) starting with “Su…” comes after all “Sp…” words. Step 6: The complete dictionary order is: Speaker, Spontaneous, Spurious, Surreptitious → i, iii, iv, ii.

Verification / Alternative check:
Think of packing these words into a dictionary: all entries under “spe-” appear before those under “spo-”, which come before “spu-”. After all “sp-” words are exhausted, you reach “su-” words like “surreptitious”. This mental dictionary scan confirms that Speaker appears first, then Spontaneous, then Spurious, and lastly Surreptitious.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- iv, ii, i, iii starts with Spurious, even though its third letter u comes after e and o, and it places Surreptitious too early.
- iii, ii, iv, i places Surreptitious among the “Sp…” words, which is not correct alphabetically.
- iv, iii, i, ii reverses the order of Speaker and Spontaneous and again misplaces Surreptitious.

Common Pitfalls:
Some candidates focus on the length or familiarity of words instead of strict alphabetical order. Others accidentally overlook the third letter and consider only the first two. The simplest way to avoid mistakes is to explicitly write the first three letters of each word, sort those, and then reconstruct the full order from that sorted list.

Final Answer:
The correct dictionary order is Speaker, Spontaneous, Spurious, Surreptitious, corresponding to i, iii, iv, ii.