Difficulty: Medium
Correct Answer: ZYX
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This is a sentence arrangement question that focuses on scientific style English. You are given the beginning of a sentence, "Aqueous rocks of equal", and three labelled segments X, Y and Z that must be arranged in the correct order. Your goal is to form a clear, grammatically correct sentence that makes sense from a geology or physical geography point of view. Such questions test both language sense and your ability to follow logical description in technical topics.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The phrase "Aqueous rocks of equal antiquity" is a familiar collocation in geology, where "antiquity" refers to age. Therefore, the first priority is to match "equal" with "antiquity" to form "of equal antiquity". After that, the verb phrase "extend for hundreds of miles" must follow to state what these rocks do. Next, we need to indicate where this extension takes place, which is "over the lake-district of North America, and". Finally, we describe what these rocks "exhibit in like manner", namely the "stratification nearly undisturbed". This leads naturally to the order Z → Y → X.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Attach Z to the opening: "Aqueous rocks of equal antiquity extend for hundreds of miles". This sounds complete and grammatical.Step 2: Ask where they extend, and see that Y "over the lake-district of North America, and" answers that location question.Step 3: Add Y after Z to get: "Aqueous rocks of equal antiquity extend for hundreds of miles over the lake-district of North America, and".Step 4: Finally, include X: "exhibit in like manner a stratification nearly undisturbed", which describes what these rocks show.Step 5: Combine everything: "Aqueous rocks of equal antiquity extend for hundreds of miles over the lake-district of North America, and exhibit in like manner a stratification nearly undisturbed." This corresponds to the order ZYX.
Verification / Alternative check:
To verify, try an alternative sequence and see how it fails. If you start with Y, you get "Aqueous rocks of equal over the lake-district of North America, and ...", which is grammatically incomplete because "equal" has no noun like "antiquity" immediately after it. If you place X early, you would get "Aqueous rocks of equal exhibit in like manner ...", which leaves "equal" unqualified. These odd starts demonstrate that Z must follow "equal" to provide "equal antiquity". The rest then follows naturally as location and description.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B, ZXY, would place "over the lake-district of North America, and" after "exhibit in like manner a stratification nearly undisturbed", which breaks the natural flow from extension (extend for hundreds of miles over a region) to descriptive property (exhibit a certain stratification). Option C, YZX, and option D, YXZ, both begin with Y, leading to "Aqueous rocks of equal over the lake-district ...", which is grammatically wrong because "equal" needs "antiquity" before we talk about where the rocks extend. Therefore, these orders do not produce a smooth scientific statement.
Common Pitfalls:
Students often focus only on matching conjunctions like "and" without checking the meaning of nearby words. Another common pitfall is ignoring the noun that an adjective belongs to; here "equal" should clearly modify "antiquity" rather than "rocks" directly in this structure. When solving such questions, always look for natural collocations ("equal antiquity", "extend for hundreds of miles", "over the lake-district") and arrange segments so that these collocations remain intact.
Final Answer:
The most logical and grammatically correct order is ZYX, forming the complete sentence: "Aqueous rocks of equal antiquity extend for hundreds of miles over the lake-district of North America, and exhibit in like manner a stratification nearly undisturbed."
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