Difficulty: Medium
Correct Answer: QPR
Explanation:
Introduction:
This rearrangement question tests your ability to organise sentence fragments into a coherent and grammatically correct sentence. The sentence describes twenty four tributes imprisoned in a large arena with different possible environments, such as a burning desert or a frozen wasteland. You must identify the order in which the three labelled parts combine naturally after the introductory phrase The twenty four tributes.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The sentence must first state what will happen to the tributes, then describe the arena in more detail. The fragment will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena functions as the main predicate, so it should follow directly after the subject The twenty four tributes. The description that could hold anything from a needs to be attached to the arena, and burning desert to a frozen wasteland completes that descriptive range. The correct order will preserve logical flow from main clause to detailed description.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Attach each fragment after The twenty four tributes and test readability. The most natural next part is Q: will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena.
Step 2: Recognise that P, that could hold anything from a, describes the arena, not the tributes themselves, and should therefore follow the word arena.
Step 3: Observe that R, burning desert to a frozen wasteland, completes the range begun in P by telling us what the arena could hold.
Step 4: Combine them: The twenty four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland.
Step 5: This arrangement matches the order QPR, which corresponds to option C.
Verification / Alternative check:
Read the full sentence aloud and check whether it is grammatical and clear. It has a subject (The twenty four tributes), a main verb phrase (will be imprisoned), a location phrase (in a vast outdoor arena), and a relative clause describing the arena (that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland). Trying other orders, such as PQR or PRQ, either leaves phrases hanging or interrupts the natural flow between arena and its description, which shows that QPR is the only fully coherent option.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
PQR begins with a relative clause that could hold anything from a, which has nothing clear to refer back to yet. PRQ similarly starts with a description before we know what is being described, and then the placement of burning desert to a frozen wasteland becomes awkward. RQP would start with burning desert to a frozen wasteland, which makes no sense immediately after The twenty four tributes. These incorrect orders break the logical relationship between the tributes, the arena, and its possible environments.
Common Pitfalls:
Many candidates look only at local links, such as from a followed by burning desert, and try to join fragments P and R first without considering where the main verb belongs. A reliable strategy is to locate the main verb phrase, in this case will be imprisoned, and attach it early to the subject. After that, relative clauses beginning with that and descriptive ranges like from a to are easier to place correctly.
Final Answer:
QPR is the correct order that forms a complete and meaningful sentence.
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