In the following question on sentence arrangement, the first and last parts of a story are numbered 1 and 6. The parts P, Q, R, and S are in jumbled order. Choose the combination that arranges them into a coherent story about a king and a stone placed in the road.

Introduction / Context:
This para jumble question presents a short moral story about a king who wanted to teach his lazy subjects a lesson. The first sentence and the last sentence are fixed, and the four middle parts P, Q, R, and S must be arranged to form a logical sequence of events. Understanding the natural order of actions in a story helps you choose the correct combination.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Fixed opening: 1. The king was distressed because his people were lazy.
• Fixed ending: 6. Under the stone the king had placed a purse full of money.
• P: All cursed the stone and blamed the Government.
• Q: Then the king had the stone removed.
• R: Next day people passed by and went round it.
• S: He had a big stone put in the middle of the road one night.
• Task: Decide the correct order of P, Q, R, S for a coherent story.

Concept / Approach:
A story usually follows a cause and effect pattern. First, the king must take some action in response to his distress. That action is placing a stone in the road, described in S. Then people encounter the stone on the next day, given in R. Their reaction, cursing the stone and blaming the Government, appears in P. Finally, the king responds by having the stone removed, which is part Q, leading naturally to the discovery mentioned in sentence 6. When arranged in this order, the story flows smoothly from problem to experiment to reaction and to the final reveal.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Begin with sentence 1, which describes the king s distress over the laziness of his people. Step 2: Identify the king s first action to test or teach his people. Part S says he had a big stone put in the middle of the road one night, which is the clear next step. Step 3: After the stone is placed, the next event should describe how people reacted when they encountered it. Part R begins with next day, which fits perfectly here. Step 4: Part P describes that all cursed the stone and blamed the Government, which is a natural reaction after they have gone around it. Step 5: Once their reaction is shown, the king responds again. Part Q says then the king had the stone removed, which logically leads to the discovery under the stone in sentence 6. Step 6: The full order is 1 S R P Q 6, which corresponds to the combination SRPQ.

Verification / Alternative check:
Read the complete story using the chosen order: The king was distressed because his people were lazy. He had a big stone put in the middle of the road one night. Next day people passed by and went round it. All cursed the stone and blamed the Government. Then the king had the stone removed. Under the stone the king had placed a purse full of money. This sequence is coherent, and the moral about missed opportunity becomes clear. Other orders break this smooth timeline or separate cause and effect in an unnatural way.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
PSRQ: Starts with people cursing the stone before explaining that the stone has been placed, which is illogical.
QPRS: Has the king remove the stone before the people have reacted to it, breaking the chronological order.
PQRS: Again begins with the reaction P before introducing the initial action of placing the stone, making the narrative confusing.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes ignore time cues such as next day and then, which clearly signal the sequence of events. Another common mistake is to start with the most dramatic sentence rather than the one that logically follows the introduction. For para jumble questions, always pay attention to temporal markers, pronouns that refer back to earlier nouns, and cause effect links. These clues usually point you to the correct order quickly.

Final Answer:
The correct arrangement of the parts is SRPQ, so option b is correct.