Step 1 : Understanding the Question
This question involves rearranging four phrases to describe a vivid visual scene. The sentence describes an animal (a buzzard) in motion against a specific environmental background (the sun). The goal is to arrange the subject, the verb phrase, and the descriptive prepositional phrases in a sequence that is both grammatically correct and visually logical.
Step 2 : Detailed Explanation
Identifying the Subject: Part (A) "a great buzzard was" contains the noun phrase and the auxiliary verb. This is the only part that can serve as a logical opening for a standard sentence in this set.
Adding the Action: Part (D) "circling high overhead a" follows (A). The word "was" from part (A) combines with "circling" from part (D) to form the past continuous tense. The "a" at the end of part (D) signals that a noun is coming next.
Describing the Visual: Part (C) "blob against the blinding" follows (D). The buzzard, seen from far below, looks like a "blob." The word "blinding" is an adjective that sets up the description of the sun.
Finishing the Scene: Part (B) "and scorching sun" provides the second adjective ("scorching") and the final noun ("sun"). The conjunction "and" links "blinding" and "scorching" to describe the same object.
Final Sequence Check: Joining (A)-(D)-(C)-(B) gives: "A great buzzard was circling high overhead a blob against the blinding and scorching sun." This creates a clear, artistic image.
Step 3: Final Answer
Based on the subject-verb-description logic, the correct order is (A), (D), (C), (B). Therefore, option (A) is the correct answer.