Arranging Words in English Dictionary Order

To arrange words in the order they appear in an English dictionary, we compare them letter by letter from left to right. We look at the first letter of each word. If the first letters are the same, we move on to the second letter, and so on, until we find a difference. The word with the letter that comes earlier in the alphabet will appear first.

Let's look at the given words and their corresponding numbers:

1. School
2. Stress
3. Source
4. Secure
5. Sweet

All five words begin with the letter 'S'. So, we need to compare the second letter of each word:

• School: Sc
• Stress: St
• Source: So
• Secure: Se
• Sweet: Sw

Now, let's arrange these second letters alphabetically: 'c', 'e', 'o', 't', 'w'.

Based on the alphabetical order of the second letter, the words will be ordered as follows:

1. Word starting with 'Sc' (School)
2. Word starting with 'Se' (Secure)
3. Word starting with 'So' (Source)
4. Word starting with 'St' (Stress)
5. Word starting with 'Sw' (Sweet)

Let's confirm this order:

• School (1) - Starts with Sc
• Secure (4) - Starts with Se
• Source (3) - Starts with So
• Stress (2) - Starts with St
• Sweet (5) - Starts with Sw

Arranging the words according to the alphabetical order of their second letters ('c', 'e', 'o', 't', 'w') gives us the order:

School, Secure, Source, Stress, Sweet

Now, let's write down the numbers corresponding to this order:

School is 1

Secure is 4

Source is 3

Stress is 2

Sweet is 5

So, the correct numerical order is 1, 4, 3, 2, 5.

Let's represent the comparison in a table for clarity:

The final order of the words in a dictionary is determined by comparing letters sequentially. In this case, the second letter was sufficient to determine the unique position of each word. The alphabetical order of the second letters (c, e, o, t, w) directly corresponds to the dictionary order of the words.

Therefore, the arrangement is School, Secure, Source, Stress, Sweet, which corresponds to the numbers 1, 4, 3, 2, 5.

Revision Table: Word Arrangement Analysis

Additional Information on Dictionary Order

Understanding dictionary order is a fundamental skill for improving vocabulary and alphabetical sequencing abilities. When words share multiple initial letters, the comparison continues down the word until a differing letter is found. For example, to arrange "Apple", "Apply", and "Approach", you would compare:

• Apple
• Apply
• Approach

They all share 'App'. The fourth letters are 'l', 'l', 'r'. 'r' comes after 'l', so "Approach" comes last. Now compare "Apple" and "Apply". They share 'Appl'. The fifth letters are 'e' and 'y'. 'e' comes before 'y', so "Apple" comes before "Apply". The final order is Apple, Apply, Approach.

This systematic, letter-by-letter comparison is the core principle of arranging words in dictionary or alphabetical order.