Rearrange the given fragments about expectations, rhetoric, and political scrutiny one year after an official launch to form a coherent English sentence.

Introduction / Context:
This sentence rearrangement question tests your ability to order clause fragments so that they form a natural, grammatically correct, and logically coherent sentence. The topic is political rhetoric and expectations one year after an official launch. Such questions appear frequently in exams because they check your understanding of clause structure, conjunctions such as while, and the logical flow of ideas in complex sentences.

Given Data / Assumptions:

The sentence begins with the fixed opening One year after its official launch.

Three fragments are provided:
P while expectations
Q has largely escaped political scrutiny
R have been scaled down, the rhetoric
The task is to arrange P, R, and Q so that the entire sentence is meaningful.

Concept / Approach:
The key to solving this question is to identify the main subject and verb for each clause and see how the conjunction while contrasts them. The phrase while expectations suggests that a clause about expectations will follow. The fragment have been scaled down, the rhetoric clearly contains a verb phrase have been scaled down and then introduces the subject the rhetoric at the end, which is typical of an inverted structure. The final fragment has largely escaped political scrutiny matches with the subject the rhetoric. Therefore, expectations must be the subject of have been scaled down, and rhetoric must be the subject of has largely escaped political scrutiny. The conjunction while explicitly contrasts these two developments, which points to the order while expectations have been scaled down, the rhetoric has largely escaped political scrutiny.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Start with the opening One year after its official launch, which sets the time frame of the sentence. Step 2: Attach fragment P while expectations to introduce the first clause that will later receive a verb phrase. Step 3: Recognise that R have been scaled down, the rhetoric supplies both a verb phrase have been scaled down and a delayed subject the rhetoric, so when joined after while expectations we get while expectations have been scaled down, the rhetoric. Step 4: Observe that Q has largely escaped political scrutiny naturally follows the subject the rhetoric and completes the contrasting idea. Step 5: Combine all parts to form the full sentence: One year after its official launch, while expectations have been scaled down, the rhetoric has largely escaped political scrutiny, which corresponds to the order P R Q.

Verification / Alternative check:
Check each proposed order quickly. For Q P R, we would get One year after its official launch, has largely escaped political scrutiny while expectations have been scaled down, the rhetoric, which breaks normal subject verb order at the beginning. For R P Q, One year after its official launch, have been scaled down, the rhetoric while expectations has largely escaped political scrutiny also sounds ungrammatical and confuses subject roles. For P Q R, the sequence while expectations has largely escaped political scrutiny have been scaled down, the rhetoric attempts to make expectations the subject of has largely escaped political scrutiny, which does not match the intended contrast. Only P R Q produces a smooth and meaningful sentence that clearly sets up a contrast between reduced expectations and rhetoric that escapes scrutiny.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A Q P R incorrectly starts the central clause with has largely escaped political scrutiny and delays the subject, making the structure clumsy and confusing. Option B R P Q uses have been scaled down, the rhetoric first, leaving while expectations stranded and leading to an illogical arrangement where expectations seems to modify the wrong verb. Option D P Q R forces expectations to be the subject of has largely escaped political scrutiny, which contradicts the intended idea that rhetoric, not expectations, has escaped scrutiny.

Common Pitfalls:
Many learners focus only on vocabulary and ignore the grammatical clues in the fragments. Words like expectations and rhetoric may tempt students to place them in positions that feel meaningful but break subject verb agreement or disrupt clause boundaries. Another common mistake is ignoring the conjunction while, which clearly indicates a contrast between two actions or states. A good strategy is to locate verbs and their logical subjects first, then connect them using the conjunction to maintain parallel and contrasting structures in the sentence.

Final Answer:
P R Q