Sequence the following sentences (P, Q, R, S) in a coherent passage:
P: Shifu’s student exclaimed, “Why do you run since the bull is an illusion?”
Q: Shifu said, “Surely my running away from the bull is also an illusion.”
R: Shifu once proclaimed that all life is illusion.
S: One day, when a bull gave him chase, Shifu began running for his life.
SPRQ
SRPQ
RSPQ
RPQS
ANSWER
The coherent order is RSPQ, option (C): Shifu's belief (R), then the bull chase (S), then the student's question (P), then Shifu's reply (Q).
Official answer: CSource: Official answer key, GATE 2024 EC (IISc Bengaluru)
Find the opening sentence. R, "Shifu once proclaimed that all life is illusion.", is a general statement of Shifu's belief. It depends on no other sentence, and the rest of the story rests on it. S, by contrast, opens with "One day", which marks the start of a particular incident, and a story gives its background before the incident. So R comes first. That rules out (A) and (B), which both open with S. (B) also fails on its own terms: it puts the background R in the middle of the incident, between the chase (S) and the student's reaction (P).
Introduce the bull before it is referred to. S brings the bull in with the indefinite article: "when a bull gave him chase". P and Q both refer to "the bull", which only works once the bull has been introduced. So S has to come before P and Q, and after the background R: R → S.
Place the student's question. P, "Why do you run since the bull is an illusion?", needs two things to have been said already: that Shifu is running (S), and that everything, the bull included, is an illusion (R). Both are in place after R → S, so P comes next: R → S → P.
Place the reply. Q, "Surely my running away from the bull is also an illusion.", is Shifu's answer to the student, turning his own teaching back on his running. A reply follows the question it answers, so Q comes last: R → S → P → Q.
Check the options. (D) RPQS puts P and Q before S, so the student would ask why Shifu runs before any bull or any running has been mentioned. That is incoherent. The only coherent order is RSPQ, option (C).
KEY IDEA
Sentence ordering follows three anchors. Background comes before the incident: a timeless "once proclaimed" goes before "One day". Something is introduced before it is referred to: "a bull" goes before "the bull". A question comes before its answer.
WATCH OUT FOR
Starting with S because "One day" sounds like a story opening (options A and B). The student's objection in P only makes sense if we already know Shifu's claim that all life is illusion (R), and "the bull" in P and Q needs "a bull" in S to come first. So the belief comes first and the incident second.
From the GATE 2024 EC paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 18 Reading questions, with notes
