Rearranging the parts

What the question looks like

You are given jumbled words, phrases or sentences (often labelled P, Q, R, S) and must choose the order that forms a correct, meaningful sentence or paragraph.

How to solve it

• Find the opening. A paragraph usually begins with a sentence that introduces the subject and does not depend on anything before it. Sentences starting with “this”, “he”, “however” or “therefore” rarely come first.
• Find mandatory pairs. A pronoun follows the noun it refers to; an example follows the idea it illustrates; “but” follows the point it contrasts with.
• Find the closing. Conclusions, results and summaries come last.
• Use the options. Once you fix the first part or one pair, eliminate options that do not match. You rarely need to order everything yourself.
• For word-level rearranging, rely on the normal word order of Arabic (for example where the verb and the subject usually sit).

Common mistakes

• Ordering by the labels instead of by meaning.
• Ignoring linking words, which are the strongest clues.