Difficulty: Medium
Correct Answer: XZY
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
Jumbled sentence questions require you to reorder labelled parts so that the final result is grammatical and meaningful. In this item, the sentence describes people who, from an early age, had to rely on their own efforts and struggle against poverty and ignorance. The labels X, Y, and Z must be arranged in a way that respects natural English word order and logical flow of ideas.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- The fixed opening is They had been thrown.
- Label X is upon their own exertions at an.
- Label Y is battle to fight with poverty and ignorance.
- Label Z is early age, and had a hard.
- Four possible orders of these labels are XZY, YXZ, ZYX, and XYZ.
- We assume the intended final sentence is about being thrown at an early age upon their own efforts and having a hard battle against poverty and ignorance.
Concept / Approach:
The target is to preserve logical collocations and grammatical structures. The phrase at an early age should remain together, and the phrase had a hard battle to fight with poverty and ignorance should also remain in a logical order. Label X ends with at an, label Z begins with early age and continues with and had a hard, while label Y completes the idea with battle to fight with poverty and ignorance. Placing X first, Z next, and Y last produces natural combinations at an early age and had a hard battle to fight with poverty and ignorance.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Verification / Alternative check:
Read the full reconstructed sentence carefully: They had been thrown upon their own exertions at an early age, and had a hard battle to fight with poverty and ignorance. The meaning is clear: from a young age, they were forced to rely on themselves and struggled against difficult circumstances. Now try YXZ or ZYX and you will find that phrases such as battle to fight with poverty and ignorance upon their own exertions at an sound clumsy and incorrect. This reading check confirms that XZY is the best arrangement.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option YXZ breaks the phrase at an early age and misplaces upon their own exertions, making the sentence confusing. Option ZYX starts with early age, and had a hard, which does not follow smoothly after They had been thrown and also puts battle to fight with poverty and ignorance in the wrong place. Option XYZ repeats had a hard in an unnatural way and fails to keep at an early age as a single unit. All these sequences damage either grammar or clarity.
Common Pitfalls:
In jumbled sentence questions, learners sometimes focus only on local connections between two adjacent fragments and ignore the global sentence structure. Another pitfall is to choose the order that seems shortest rather than the one that preserves important collocations such as at an early age and hard battle. To avoid errors, first identify such fixed or semi fixed groups of words and ensure they remain intact in your chosen sequence.
Final Answer:
The most logical and grammatically correct order of the labels is XZY, giving a clear and meaningful sentence.
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