Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Rest
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
In this word formation question, you are given the base word Precious and four option words. Your task is to identify which option cannot be formed from the letters of Precious. You may rearrange letters, but each letter from the base word may be used only as many times as it appears there, and you are not allowed to introduce new letters. This is a classic verbal reasoning task that measures careful observation and the ability to match letters accurately under constraints.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The standard method is to list out the letters of the base word and then evaluate each option. For each option, every letter must appear in the base word and be available in sufficient quantity. If an option uses a letter not found in the base word, or if it needs more copies of a letter than the base word provides, the option is impossible to form and becomes the correct answer. Because the base word Precious does not contain the letter T, any option requiring T will immediately fail this test.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Extract the letters from Precious: P, R, E, C, I, O, U, S. Note that there is no letter T in this set.
Step 2: Check Pire. Its letters are P, I, R, E. All of these letters occur in Precious, and each is required only once, so Pire can be formed.
Step 3: Check Rise. Its letters are R, I, S, E. R, I, S and E all appear in the base word Precious, so Rise can be formed as well.
Step 4: Check Rose. Its letters are R, O, S, E. Each of these letters is present in Precious, so Rose can also be formed.
Step 5: Check Rest. Its letters are R, E, S, T. While R, E and S are available, the letter T is not present anywhere in Precious. Therefore Rest cannot be formed from the base word.
Verification / Alternative check:
A rapid verification technique is to write down the set {P, R, E, C, I, O, U, S} and inspect each option for any letter not in this set. Pire uses P, I, R and E, all present. Rise uses R, I, S and E, also present. Rose uses R, O, S and E, again all present. Rest, however, includes T, which is not in the base set. Since you cannot introduce new letters, this single discrepancy is sufficient to show that Rest cannot be constructed from Precious. A recheck of the other options confirms that each of them requires only letters available in the base word.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Pire uses only P, I, R and E, which are all present in Precious. Rise uses R, I, S and E, again perfectly compatible with the base letter set. Rose uses R, O, S and E, which also appears in Precious without any frequency conflict. Because all of these words can indeed be formed using the letters of Precious, they do not satisfy the question's requirement of being impossible to form and so cannot be the correct answer.
Common Pitfalls:
Candidates sometimes focus on how meaningful or familiar a word looks and may reject unusual ones such as Pire simply because they do not use them often, instead of checking letter availability. Another pitfall is scanning words too quickly and failing to notice a missing letter like T. The best strategy is to mentally note which letters are completely absent from the base word and then scan each option specifically for those letters. This approach quickly isolates the impossible word and avoids confusion based on word familiarity.
Final Answer:
Because Precious does not contain the letter T, the option Rest cannot be formed from its letters, while the other options can. Therefore Rest is the correct answer.
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