Understanding Dictionary Word Order

To arrange words in English dictionary order, we compare them letter by letter from left to right. The word with the letter that comes earlier in the alphabet is placed first.

Words for Arrangement

We need to arrange the following words:

• 1. RESIGN
• 2. REPAIR
• 3. RESIDUE
• 4. RESEARCH
• 5. RESCUE

Step-by-Step Comparison

Let's compare the words based on their alphabetical order:

Comparing the First Few Letters

All the words start with 'R'.

The second letter for all words is 'E'.

Now, let's look at the third letter:

• RESIGN
• REPAIR
• RESIDUE
• RESEARCH
• RESCUE

We compare the third letters: 'S', 'P', 'S', 'S', 'S'.

The letter 'P' in REPAIR comes before 'S'. Therefore, REPAIR (2) is the first word in the dictionary order.

Comparing Remaining Words

Now we compare the remaining words, all starting with 'RES': RESIGN, RESIDUE, RESEARCH, RESCUE.

Let's look at the fourth letter:

• RESIGN
• RESIDUE
• RESEARCH
• RESCUE

The fourth letters are 'I', 'I', 'E', 'C'.

Arranging these letters alphabetically: 'C', 'E', 'I', 'I'.

This gives us the following order for these four words:

1. RESCUE (fourth letter 'C')
2. RESEARCH (fourth letter 'E')
3. RESIDUE (fourth letter 'I')
4. RESIGN (fourth letter 'I')

So, the order so far is: REPAIR, RESCUE, RESEARCH.

Resolving Ties

We have a tie between RESIDUE and RESIGN, as both start with 'RESI'. We need to compare their fifth letters:

• RESIDUE
• RESIGN

The fifth letters are 'D' and 'G'.

Since 'D' comes before 'G' in the alphabet, RESIDUE (3) comes before RESIGN (1).

Final Dictionary Order

Combining all the comparisons, the final order of the words as they would appear in an English dictionary is:

1. REPAIR (2)
2. RESCUE (5)
3. RESEARCH (4)
4. RESIDUE (3)
5. RESIGN (1)

Therefore, the correct sequence of the original numbers is 2, 5, 4, 3, 1.