Among the following words, which one will appear third in a standard English dictionary: Immutable, Immigrate, Imperative, or Impassioned?

Introduction / Context:
This question tests your understanding of dictionary order when words have very similar prefixes. You are asked which of the four words Immutable, Immigrate, Imperative, and Impassioned would appear third if listed in a standard English dictionary. Correctly answering requires comparing letters one by one and identifying the exact order in which these words would be arranged alphabetically.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Words given: Immutable, Immigrate, Imperative, Impassioned.
• All words start with I M, so differences appear from the third letter onward.
• We assume normal English dictionary ordering based on the alphabet.
• We need to find the third word in the sorted list of these four words.

Concept / Approach:
The key concept is lexicographical or dictionary ordering. Words are compared letter by letter: first letters are compared, then second letters, and so on. When a difference is found at a particular position, the word with the earlier letter in the alphabet at that position comes first in the ordering. If all letters up to the length of the shorter word match, then the shorter word comes first. Carefully applying this rule to the given words reveals their correct sequence and thus the word that appears third.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Write the words: IMMUTABLE, IMMIGRATE, IMPERATIVE, IMPASSIONED.Step 2: Compare the first three letters. IMMUTABLE and IMMIGRATE start with I M M, while IMPERATIVE and IMPASSIONED start with I M P. Since M comes before P, all IMM words come before IMP words.Step 3: Order IMMUTABLE and IMMIGRATE. Both start with I M M, so compare the fourth letter: U in IMMUTABLE and I in IMMIGRATE. Since I comes before U, IMMIGRATE comes before IMMUTABLE.Step 4: Now order IMPERATIVE and IMPASSIONED. They share I M P as a prefix. Compare the fourth letters: E in IMPERATIVE and A in IMPASSIONED. Since A comes before E, IMPASSIONED comes before IMPERATIVE.Step 5: Combine all: first comes IMMIGRATE, then IMMUTABLE, followed by IMPASSIONED, and finally IMPERATIVE.Step 6: Therefore, the third word in dictionary order is IMPASSIONED.

Verification / Alternative check:

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Immutable is not the correct answer because it is second in the dictionary order, coming after Immigrate but before the two IMP words.Immigrate is not the correct answer because it comes first among the four words when ordered alphabetically.Imperative is not the correct answer because it appears last, after Impassioned, due to the letter E following IMP.

Common Pitfalls:
One common error is to rely on familiarity rather than letter by letter comparison, which can lead to misordering very similar words. Another frequent mistake is to group words correctly (IMM vs IMP) but then misorder words within each group by not carefully comparing the subsequent letters. A methodical approach that checks one position at a time prevents such errors and ensures accurate identification of the third word in the dictionary.

Final Answer:
The word that appears third in dictionary order among the four given words is Impassioned.