Question

Rearrange the following parts to form a coherent paragraph and identify the third statement:
a. over much of the Sahara, these formations were covered by Mesozoic deposits,
b. the Sahara sits atop the African Shield,
c. and many of the important regional aquifers are identified with them,
d. which is composed of heavily folded and denuded Precambrian rocks,
e. have remained horizontal and relatively unaltered,
f. because of the stability of the shield, subsequently deposited Paleozoic formations,

• A. b
• B. c
• C. d
• D. e
  (e) f
• E.

Hint:

Look for "noun-pronoun" pairs. "African Shield" (b) followed by "which" (d) is a solid link. "Paleozoic formations" (f) followed by "have remained" (e) is another. This "chains" the sentences together.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need to rearrange six sentence fragments (a-f) into a logical and grammatically correct paragraph. Then, we must identify which fragment is the third one in the correct sequence.
Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
The strategy for para-jumbles is to: 1. Find the introductory sentence. 2. Identify mandatory pairs (sentences that must follow each other). 3. Look for pronoun-antecedent links (e.g., 'it', 'they', 'these' referring to a noun in a previous sentence). 4. Trace the logical flow of the topic.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
1. Finding the opening sentence: - Statement (b) "the Sahara sits atop the African Shield," is a strong candidate for the opening sentence. It introduces the main subject (Sahara) and a key geographical feature (African Shield) in a general, independent statement. - Other statements start with conjunctions ('and'), relative pronouns ('which'), dependent clauses ('because of'), or have missing subjects ('have remained'), making them unsuitable as openers. - So, the first sentence is (b).
2. Finding mandatory pairs: - Statement (d) begins with "which is composed of...". The "which" clearly refers to the "African Shield" mentioned at the end of statement (b). This forms a mandatory pair: b-d. - The sequence so far: "the Sahara sits atop the African Shield, which is composed of heavily folded and denuded Precambrian rocks,".
3. Building the sequence: - Statement (f) starts "because of the stability of the shield...". It explains a consequence of the shield's nature, which was introduced in (b-d). Statement (f) is an introductory clause ("because of..., Paleozoic formations,") that needs a main clause to complete it. - Statement (e) starts with a verb "have remained...". The subject for this verb is "Paleozoic formations" from statement (f). This forms another mandatory pair: f-e. - The sequence now becomes: b-d-f-e. Let's read it: "the Sahara sits atop the African Shield, which is composed of heavily folded and denuded Precambrian rocks, because of the stability of the shield, subsequently deposited Paleozoic formations, have remained horizontal and relatively unaltered,". This flows logically and grammatically.
4. Placing the remaining statements: - We are left with (a) and (c). - Statement (a) says "...these formations were covered...". The term "these formations" logically refers to the "Paleozoic formations" mentioned in (f-e). So, (a) follows (e). - Statement (c) starts with "and..." and mentions "them". This follows statement (a) and completes the idea about the formations and their importance. - The full sequence is b-d-f-e-a-c.
5. Identifying the third statement: The correctly arranged sequence is: 1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (f) 4. (e) 5. (a) 6. (c)
The third statement in the rearranged paragraph is (f).
Step 4: Final Answer:
The third statement after rearranging the parts is (f).