Understanding Letter Analogies

Letter analogies are a common type of reasoning question where you need to find the relationship between the first pair of terms and apply the same relationship to the third term to find the fourth term. These relationships often involve rearrangement of letters, alphabetical order, skipping letters, or other patterns.

Analyzing the First Analogy Pair: PRACTISE : ACEIPRST

Let's examine the relationship between the first two terms: PRACTISE and ACEIPRST.

The letters in the first term, PRACTISE, are:

• P
• R
• A
• C
• T
• I
• S
• E

The letters in the second term, ACEIPRST, are:

• A
• C
• E
• I
• P
• R
• S
• T

If we compare the letters, we notice that both terms contain the exact same set of letters. The letters in ACEIPRST appear to be arranged in a specific order.

Let's try arranging the letters of PRACTISE alphabetically:

• A
• C
• E
• I
• P
• R
• S
• T

This alphabetical arrangement matches the second term, ACEIPRST. Therefore, the relationship between the first pair is that the second term is the alphabetical sorting of the letters of the first term.

Applying the Rule to the Third Term: TECHNOLOGY

Now, we apply the same rule to the third term, TECHNOLOGY. We need to take the letters in TECHNOLOGY and arrange them alphabetically.

The letters in TECHNOLOGY are:

• T
• E
• C
• H
• N
• O
• L
• O
• G
• Y

Let's sort these letters alphabetically:

• C
• E
• G
• H
• L
• N
• O
• O
• T
• Y

The alphabetically sorted sequence of the letters in TECHNOLOGY is CEGHLNOOTY.

Checking the Options

Now, let's compare our result with the given options:

1. HCETONYGLO
2. CEGHLNOPTY
3. CEGHLNOOTY
4. CEGLHOONTY

Our calculated sequence, CEGHLNOOTY, matches Option 3 exactly.

Conclusion

Following the pattern observed in the first pair (PRACTISE : ACEIPRST), where the second term is an alphabetical arrangement of the letters of the first term, the fourth term related to TECHNOLOGY is the alphabetical arrangement of its letters, which is CEGHLNOOTY.

Revision Table: Analogy Solving Key Steps

To solve letter analogy problems like PRACTISE : ACEIPRST :: TECHNOLOGY : ?, follow these general steps:

• Identify the letters present in the first term.
• Identify the letters present in the second term.
• Check if the second term is a rearrangement of the first term's letters.
• If it's a rearrangement, look for the specific rule (e.g., alphabetical order, reverse order, specific pattern).
• Apply the identified rule to the third term.
• Compare your result with the given options.

Additional Information: Types of Letter Analogies

Besides alphabetical sorting seen in the PRACTISE ACEIPRST TECHNOLOGY analogy, other types of letter analogies include:

• Letter Shifting: Each letter is shifted by a fixed number of positions in the alphabet (e.g., A → C, B → D).
• Reverse Order: The letters are arranged in reverse order.
• Skipping Letters: Letters are picked or skipped based on a specific interval.
• Letter Position: The rule is based on the alphabetical position of the letters (A=1, B=2, etc.).
• Vowel/Consonant Arrangement: Vowels and consonants are arranged separately or in a specific pattern.