Understanding Sentence Rearrangement Questions

Sentence rearrangement questions test your ability to understand the logical flow of ideas and grammatical structure. You are given a set of jumbled sentences or sentence fragments and need to arrange them in a coherent order to form a meaningful paragraph or sentence. This question asks us to arrange three labelled fragments (A, B, and C) to logically follow a given introductory phrase, creating a complete thought about contrasting attitudes towards senior citizens.

Analysing the Sentence Fragments

Let's look at the fragments provided:

• A: the attitude of the general
• B: public in the advanced
• C: countries towards senior citizens

We need to combine these fragments with the introductory phrase "Contrast this with" to form a complete and logical sentence.

Evaluating the Options for Logical Order

We will now examine each option provided and see how the fragments fit together with the starting phrase.

Option 1: ABC

Let's combine the fragments in the order A, B, C with the introductory phrase:

Introductory phrase: Contrast this with

A: the attitude of the general

B: public in the advanced

C: countries towards senior citizens

Putting them together: "Contrast this with the attitude of the general public in the advanced countries towards senior citizens."

This forms a grammatically correct and logically coherent sentence. It describes contrasting something with the attitude held by the general public in developed nations regarding senior citizens.

Option 2: CBA

Let's combine the fragments in the order C, B, A:

Introductory phrase: Contrast this with

C: countries towards senior citizens

B: public in the advanced

A: the attitude of the general

Putting them together: "Contrast this with countries towards senior citizens public in the advanced the attitude of the general."

This arrangement does not form a grammatically correct or meaningful sentence.

Option 3: CAB

Let's combine the fragments in the order C, A, B:

Introductory phrase: Contrast this with

C: countries towards senior citizens

A: the attitude of the general

B: public in the advanced

Putting them together: "Contrast this with countries towards senior citizens the attitude of the general public in the advanced."

This arrangement is grammatically awkward and does not form a clear, logical sentence.

Option 4: BCA

Let's combine the fragments in the order B, C, A:

Introductory phrase: Contrast this with

B: public in the advanced

C: countries towards senior citizens

A: the attitude of the general

Putting them together: "Contrast this with public in the advanced countries towards senior citizens the attitude of the general."

This arrangement is grammatically incorrect and lacks coherence.

Identifying the Most Logical Sentence Order

Comparing all the options, the order ABC is the only one that creates a grammatically correct and logically flowing phrase when combined with the introductory text "Contrast this with". The phrase "the attitude of the general public in the advanced countries towards senior citizens" is a standard way to describe a specific viewpoint within a demographic in certain regions. The fragments A, B, and C naturally follow each other to build this phrase.

A ("the attitude of the general") introduces the subject (attitude) and the group (general public). B ("public in the advanced") specifies the location/context for the general public. C ("countries towards senior citizens") specifies what the attitude is towards. The sequence ABC correctly builds the description of the attitude: "the attitude of the general public in the advanced countries towards senior citizens".

Conclusion on Sentence Order

The most logical and coherent order of the given sentences to form a sensible paragraph following the introductory phrase is ABC.

Revision Table: Sentence Arrangement

Additional Information: Sentence Cohesion and Coherence

When arranging sentences, two important concepts are cohesion and coherence.

• Cohesion: This refers to the grammatical and lexical links between sentences or parts of sentences. It's about how the words connect ideas. In this question, the fragments need to link together grammatically to form a correct sentence structure.
• Coherence: This refers to the overall sense and meaning of the passage. A coherent paragraph flows logically and is easy to understand. While cohesion is about the links between words, coherence is about the links between ideas. The arranged sentence must make sense in the context of contrasting attitudes towards senior citizens.

In this specific question, the primary challenge is grammatical cohesion to form a correct phrase. The order ABC successfully creates this grammatical link, leading to a coherent idea.