From the following words, select the one which cannot be formed using the letters of the word SANCTION, assuming that no letter is used more times than it appears in the original word SANCTION.

Introduction / Context:
In this word formation problem, you are given the base word SANCTION and asked to identify which one of the listed options cannot be obtained by rearranging its letters. Each letter in SANCTION may be used up to its available frequency, but no new letter may be introduced. This format is a common feature of verbal reasoning tests and is meant to assess how accurately and quickly you can compare letter sets between the base word and the options.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Base word: SANCTION.
• Letters available: S, A, N, C, T, I, O, N (with N appearing twice and all other letters once).
• Options: STOIC, TACOS, STONE, SONIC.
• Letters can be rearranged, but may not be used more often than in SANCTION and must come only from this letter pool.

Concept / Approach:
The recommended approach is to list or mentally record the distinct letters in the base word and then examine each option. If every letter in an option appears in the base word and is not used more frequently than allowed, that option can be formed. If an option contains a letter not present in the base word, or uses a letter too often, that option is impossible and becomes the correct answer. An efficient shortcut is to focus on suspicious letters such as E, L or R, which might not appear in the base word but could be present in the options.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Extract the letters from SANCTION: S, A, N, C, T, I, O, N. There is no letter E in this set. Step 2: Check STOIC. Its letters are S, T, O, I, C. All of these letters occur in the base word, and no letter is repeated more than permitted, so STOIC can be formed. Step 3: Check TACOS. Its letters are T, A, C, O, S. Again, each letter is present in SANCTION, and the frequency of each letter matches what is available, so TACOS can be formed. Step 4: Check SONIC. Its letters are S, O, N, I, C. Every letter is present in SANCTION, and there is at least one N available, so SONIC can be formed. Step 5: Check STONE. Its letters are S, T, O, N, E. Here, the letter E appears, but E is not present anywhere in SANCTION. Therefore STONE cannot be formed from the base word.

Verification / Alternative check:
To verify quickly, you can write the base word SANCTION and visually search for each letter required by the options. For STOIC, all letters S, T, O, I and C are clearly visible. For TACOS and SONIC, the same is true. When you examine STONE, however, you do not find any E in SANCTION. Because even one missing letter is enough to make the entire word impossible to construct, this confirms that STONE is the only invalid option among the four.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
STOIC uses letters S, T, O, I and C, all of which are directly available in SANCTION. TACOS uses T, A, C, O and S, again all found in the base word. SONIC uses S, O, N, I and C, which are also present in SANCTION. Since these three words can be formed using the available letters, they do not satisfy the question requirement, which is to find the word that cannot be formed, and thus they are not correct answers.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to look only at the general shape or sound of the words and assume that the longest or most complex-looking word will be the impossible one. Another pitfall is to misread letters under exam pressure, for example confusing I with E or overlooking the absence of E in SANCTION. The best practice is to explicitly note which letters are missing from the base word and then scan the options for those letters, which immediately highlights the impossible option in questions like this.

Final Answer:
Because the base word SANCTION does not contain the letter E, the option STONE cannot be formed from it, whereas all the other options can. Therefore STONE is the correct answer.