Rearrange the labelled sentences to form a coherent narrative paragraph about the speaker journey to the house of Roderick Usher.

Introduction / Context:
This paragraph arrangement question is based on a narrative excerpt that describes a journey to the house of Roderick Usher, a character from famous Gothic literature. The four labelled sentences describe the travel, the sight of the house, identification of its owner, and information about how long it had been since the narrator and Roderick Usher had met. You need to arrange these sentences into the most logical chronological order.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Q: One dull dark day in autumn, I was travelling on horseback through a dreary stretch of countryside.
• S: At night fall, I came in sight of the house of Usher.
• R: This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal.
• P: It had been umpteen years since we had seen each other.
• The paragraph is a first person narrative of a journey and a reunion after a long separation.

Concept / Approach:
Narrative paragraphs usually follow time order. First the narrator describes the setting and journey, then arriving at a particular place, then recognising whose house it is, and finally adding background details about the relationship and time gap. Among the given sentences, Q is clearly the starting point because it begins with a time expression "One dull dark day in autumn" and sets the scene. S naturally follows as the arrival at the destination. R identifies the owner of the house, and P gives further background about the friendship and the fact that they had not met for years. This results in the sequence Q S R P.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the best opening sentence. Q introduces the time, mood, and situation of travelling on horseback, making it a classic opening for a story. Step 2: After travelling, the next key event is arriving at or seeing the destination. Sentence S states "At night fall, I came in sight of the house of Usher", which logically follows the travel described in Q. Step 3: Once the narrator sees the house, it is natural to explain whose house it is. R provides that information: "This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal." Step 4: After identifying Roderick as a childhood friend, P adds further detail: "It had been umpteen years since we had seen each other." This completes the background and sets up emotional anticipation for their meeting. Step 5: Therefore, the most coherent order is Q S R P, which corresponds to option C (QSRP).

Verification / Alternative check:
Consider alternative orders. If we start with P, "It had been umpteen years since we had seen each other", the reader has no idea who "we" are or why this matters until much later, which is less effective. Beginning with S ("At night fall, I came in sight of the house of Usher") lacks initial context and ignores the set up of the journey. Ending with Q would place the travel description after the arrival, which is clearly illogical. Only QSRP shows a natural time sequence: travel, arrival, identification, and background.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
PQSR starts abruptly with information about the lapse of time without introducing the characters or setting.

PSQR also begins with the time gap, then jumps to the idea that the house belonged to Roderick Usher, and only later describes the travel and sight of the house, which scrambles the narrative.

QRSP would place P ("It had been umpteen years") before S, so the reader knows about the time gap but does not yet know that the narrator is about to see the house, which weakens the flow of events.

Common Pitfalls:
In narrative para jumbles, many students look only for pronoun references and connectors, but they forget to apply simple chronological logic. A good strategy is to list events in the order they would naturally happen in real life: journey, arrival, recognition, and then reflection on the past. Often, the sentence with the most explicit time and setting markers makes the best beginning, as is the case with Q here.

Final Answer:
The correct order is Q S R P, so the answer is QSRP.