How to approach Para Jumbles?

What are Para Jumbles?

Para Jumbles are a set of small paragraphs or sentences that have been “jumbled” or placed randomly. It’s clear from the name too, para jumbles - paras that have been jumbled.

You are supposed to unjumble them, i.e. place them in such an order that is meaningful and comprehensible. Some people also call these PQRS type of questions, because the various jumbled paragraphs/sentences are generally labelled P, Q, R and S. They are also called PJ in short.

Para Jumble section is present in English section of many objective type exams. It basically tests:

• our comprehension skills.
• whether we can understand the flow of ideas.
• whether we can link the various paragraphs and sentences in a logical order to form a coherent passage.
• whether we can recognize the introduction and conclusion part of a passage.

If we have the above skills, then we can probably write good English articles and essays too. So, basically Para Jumbles section checks your writing skills, comprehension skills, the art of putting your ideas in a logical order, your ability to maintain a consistent flow in writing etc. without asking you to write anything.

Types of Para Jumble Questions

There are various ways in which Para Jumbles (PJ) questions are presented to students. Some of the most used question patterns are:

• 4, 5 or 6 paragraphs/sentences will be presented to you and you will be asked to rearrange them.
• You will be provided with either introduction or conclusion or both and the rest you will have to reorder.
• The options may provide the various possible orders, e.g. PQRS, RSPQ, QRSP, SPQR. Or you may be asked which paragraph/sentence must be the first, third, or last etc.

How to attempt Para Jumble Questions?

Now, let us see a few tips, some tricks of the trade to solve Para Jumble questions.

Tip 1: Try to recognize the Introduction

We should first of all try to identify which sentence (or a set of sentences) is the best suitable option for an introduction and for a conclusion. Generally, finding these is relatively easier than arranging the sentences in the middle part.

An introductory sentence will give a fresh start. It will not seem to add on to the meaning or contradict a previous sentence, i.e. it will not extend any previous idea. It may introduce a new person, place or character.

Have you written an essay or read a column? The first sentence of a passage (be it RC or PJ) will be just like that. Here we have jotted down a few types of possible introductory sentences.

Introduction type 1: General or Regular Intro

If the passage aims to just explain or describe something, i.e. it has descriptive style, then more often than not the introductory sentence will present a general idea and then the writer will become more specific later on in the passage.

For example: “Developing nations are often expected to bear the burden to climate change measures. But is it fair? India, for example, is often compared with rich developed countries like USA and UK and its efforts towards climate change evaluated using the same stringent parameters.”

Author started with a general concept of developing countries, and then moved on to more specific example of one such developing country, India.

Introduction type 2: Appeal to Logical brain

If the passage aims to raise awareness on an issue, then the writer may start with some facts, statistics etc. so as to emphasize the issue or the problem. Here, the writer is catering to your logical mind.

For example: “As per latest reports of Ministry of Women and Child Development, the female to male ratio has dipped further in 8 states. A major cause for this is female foeticide. It’s a sure shot sign that our traditional approaches to remedy this social evil are not effective on ground. We not only need government schemes, but also social influencers that people can relate with.”

Here, the aim of the author is to raise awareness on the issue of falling female-male ratio due to female foeticide, and that we are not doing enough in this area. So, to draw his point home he started with a gloomy fact. It helped raise anxiety or concern of the reader. Then the author may further describe the problem, followed by the reasons behind that, and then in the end the possible solutions. So, the order will be:

• Provide an opening line to grab the attention of the reader, using facts or something like that.
• Describe the problem/issue.
• Provide the probable reasons/causes behind the issue/problem.
• Give some solutions or steps taken, if any.

Introduction type 3: Appeal to Emotional brain

An author may start a passage with a purpose to surprise, disgust or amaze you. The aim here is to grab your attention by invoking your emotional, non-rational side (unlike facts, that call on to your rational, logical side). This is a tactic that is often used in copywriting and advertisements. Then he will move on to talk about the issue in general.

For example: “Albert Fish, the real bogeyman, was an old serial killer that used to murder and eat kids. He ate a 10-year-old girl when he was over 60 years old, and then wrote a letter to her family describing how much he enjoyed it. Do you still think that all men are inherently good? The idea of prison and abolishment of capital punishment is that people can reform and so we do not have the right to deny that second chance to anybody. But many cases do challenge our humane core beliefs from time to time.”

Here the author has started the passage with a disgusting real-life example, that’s going to shock the readers. Once the readers are hooked, the author moves on to his main idea of capital punishment.

Tip 2: Try to recognize the Conclusion

A sentence working as a conclusion will seem to provide a sense of completeness to the entire passage. It may:

• finalize the argument, or provide some settlement to the issue being discussed.
• give a summary.
• provide some advises/recommendations/suggestions.

Many sentences that work as conclusion may start with the following words: Clearly, Thus, Therefore, Eventually, Finally, Hence, In conclusion etc.

Tip 3: Find mandatory linked pairs

Our next strategy should be to find pairs or triplets of sentences that can easily be seen to be linked, or following one another. There are various clues that will help you out in finding linked sentences in a jumbled passage. Some of them have been listed below.

Using some of them you can tell:

• which sentence will come before the other (order of pair or triplet is known).
• However, in some cases you cannot tell which one of the two or three sentences will come first, even though you are certain that they will surely be placed together (order of pair or triplet is not known).

Order of linked pair is known

Using the following clues you will get to know not only that the sentences are connected and form a pair, but you will also know their order.

Connectors / Transition words

Some sentences may be linked by connectors. Connectors or transition words are used to maintain a smooth flow in a passage, and move on from one sentence/idea to another in a natural manner.

Some words that are used as connectors: however, moreover, after all, all in all, to sum up, unless, similarly, consequently, hence, also, again, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition, additionally, likewise, to begin with, at the same time, for now, for the time being, otherwise, subsequently, therefore, thus, as a rule, generally, soon, in the meantime, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, in conclusion, with this in mind, for instance, for example, for one thing, above all, aside from, barring, besides, in other words, in short, instead, likewise, on one hand, on the other hand, rather, similarly, yet, but, still, nevertheless, first of all, in time, later on, meanwhile, next, then, though, although etc.

Noun-Pronoun pair

The first sentence may introduce a noun and the second sentence may refer to the same using a pronoun (he, she, it, him, her, their, etc.).

For example, consider the following example.

P. Its origins lie in Texas, where a Harley and Davidsons came together to make this cruise icon.
Q. The bike, though it seems very German in origin, is actually quite American.

Statement Q is talking about ‘the bike’, and statement P is talking about the same bike by referring it using a pronoun ‘Its’. We know that we use a pronoun to refer to a person, animal, place or a thing only if it has already been introduced earlier. Hence, we can say that the order of these two sentences will be QP.

Though some other sentence may also come in between the two. So, do read all the statements given and also have a look at the options. But you may confidently eliminate all options wherein P is placed before Q. E.g. SQPR or SQRP may be the correct order, but SRPQ is definitely incorrect.

Now, focus on the word ‘origin’ in sentence Q and ‘origins’ in statement P. Sentence Q tells us about a myth regarding the bike’s origin and sentence P states the correct fact regarding its origin. So, we may confidently conclude that these two sentences must be placed immediately next to each other. That is, no other sentence will come between them and so our correct option should be SQPR and not SQRP.

Sequence Indicators

Some sentences may start with sequence indicators, e.g. firstly, secondly, thirdly, lastly, initially, then, before, later, after etc.

It is often done when we are listing down some points or describing some steps. Start by finding the first point, step or activity, and then just move with the flow. It makes decoding the jumbled sentences pretty easy.

Order of linked pair may or may not be known

Using the following clues, you will get to know that the sentences are connected and form a pair, but you may or may not be able to tell their order.

So, the following linked sentences may not be that useful to us. That’s because, even if we know they are connected logically and will come together, we may not be able to tell their order, i.e. which one will come first is not certain. It will depend on the writing style of the author. But they may still be of some use, as they may help us eliminate some of the incorrect options.

Let’s have a look at some of such linked pairs.

Statement-Reason pair

In a Statement-Reason pair or a Cause-and-Effect pair, one sentence may be explanation of the other. Sometimes you will see the use of these words in such cases: due to, as, since etc.

However, their order may or may not be concluded. For example, consider the following examples.

Example 1

P. She seems a bit distressed.
Q. Probably she has not taken her medication yet.

Sentence P is stating a fact, while sentence Q seems to be the reason behind the state stated in P. But an author may place anyone of the two before the other. Both PQ and QP sound fine. It depends on the writing style of the writer (though PQ sounds a tad better than QP).

Example 2

P. Eventually, the world saw the wrath of his revenge in the form of World War - II.
Q. Treaty of Versailles that Germany signed after World War - I was pretty humiliating. Hitler vowed to take revenge of this humiliation, even though he was just a low rank soldier at that time.

Sentence P is stating a fact, while sentence Q seems to be the reason behind the action stated in P. The keyword ‘Eventually’ gives us some clue regarding the order. So, their logical order will be QP. Here, we can see that the reason came before the other statement that stated its repercussions.

Statement-Conclusion pair

One sentence may be a conclusion or inference that has been drawn based on a fact/statistics/description mentioned in another sentence. However, it may or may not be that helpful in letting us know their order. For example, consider the following examples.

Example 1

P. It seems like China is hiding something as far as its virus research is concerned.
Q. Repeated requests to inspect the Wuhan lab have been turned down by Chinese Communist party.

Sentence Q is stating a fact, while sentence P seems to be the conclusion that has been drawn by the author. But an author may place anyone of the two before the other. Both PQ and QP sound fine. It depends on the writing style of the writer.

Example 2

P. Generally, the campaigns against foreign plants are pointless.
Q. Most invasive species are neither terribly successful nor very harmful.

Sentence Q is stating a fact, while sentence P seems to be the conclusion that has been drawn by the author. But here we can see that sentence P must come before Q. So, here we can tell their order.

Strengthening/Weakening argument

One sentence may be strengthening or weakening/contradicting the other sentence. Such sentences are often linked and placed together in a passage.

Tip 4: Chronology and Tenses

Sometimes, dates and years are present in the jumbled sentences. They may help our cause.

Also, keep an eye on the tenses being used. They often help.

Tip 5: Solve before you peek at the options

We generally encourage the students to have a look at the options in other sections of English objective test. But we will not do so here.

In case of Para Jumbles, looking at options may end up confusing you. More often than not, you will feel that more than one option is correct and probably end up marking the wrong answer. Also, this approach will consume a lot of your time.

So instead, here you should first of all try to arrange the sentences yourself, by using the strategies mentioned earlier. Then re-read the passage to ensure that the ideas flow naturally, and it sounds logical.

Only once you have created some order in your mind, should you check the options provided to you. But if you could not make any order on your own, or lack confidence, then the last tactic is to check the order given in the options one by one.

You may look to eliminate the options based on the conclusions you have already drawn. For example, if you are very confident that a particular sentence, say Q, must be the introductory sentence, then eliminate all the options that do not have Q as the opening sentence. Or maybe, you think that P must be followed by R, i.e. PR makes a sentence pair. In this case you can eliminate the options that do not have P and R in this order or if other sentences are between them.

Conclusion

So, we hope that now you have some idea regarding the approach you need to adopt to solve Para Jumbles, the tricks you can use, the clues to look for, and the skills you need.

As you can see, here just learning grammar rules and rote memorization of vocabulary won’t be that effective. You must be an avid reader, who has inculcated a habit of reading on a variety of subjects and topics, e.g. psychology, philosophy, economy, science, technology, fiction and non-fiction novels, various sections of newspapers etc.

Improvement in comprehension skills, understanding the flow of ideas, how sentences are connected, how passages are started and ended etc. are some of the concepts that cannot be taught so easily. They develop on their own when you read a lot.

Extra Books and Tools

If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.