Para Jumbles: Solved Examples

Example - 1

1. It always seems like there's a mountain between us and our dreams.
2. People who want to achieve something great, reach a lofty goal, or start something new will often hesitate before taking the leap.
3. That little bit of hesitation is fine - it's not wise to do anything monumental without pausing to make important considerations.
4. The hesitation becomes a problem when it transmutes into fear or anxiety that holds you back from doing something you're perfectly capable of doing.
5. If fear is standing in the way of your success, it's time to evaluate the situation, work towards resolving that fear, and do the thing you've always dreamed of doing.
Ans: 12345
Sol: Begin with sentence 1 because it sets the central metaphor - a mountain between you and your dreams - which defines the paragraph's theme. Sentence 2 naturally follows: it explains who experiences that obstacle and why people hesitate before acting. Sentence 3 then qualifies hesitation as useful in small amounts, showing that a pause can be sensible. Sentence 4 escalates the idea by explaining when hesitation turns harmful - into fear or anxiety that blocks action. Finally, sentence 5 closes the paragraph with a practical resolution: if fear blocks success, evaluate it, work to resolve it, and proceed. The order 1→2→3→4→5 therefore gives a clear introduction, explanation, caution and a constructive conclusion.

Example - 2

1. 20% of the global population is dealing with this symptom and has to take a sleeping pill on a daily basis to get some rest.
2. If you are suffering from insomnia and have to rely on sleeping pills, you are not alone.
3. While there could be multiple causes of insomnia, habitual and psychological factors significantly influence your sleep patterns.
4. Studies demonstrate that the mobile blue light inhibits our sleep and also has a negative impact on our long-term health. It is highly recommended that you avoid your mobile light at all cost one hour before you fall asleep.
5. Fortunately, these are within our control to change. You want to pay extra attention to optimising your home set up especially if you live in busy metropolitan areas.
Ans: 21354
Sol: Sentence 2 works best as the opening because it directly addresses the reader and introduces insomnia as a common condition. Sentence 1 follows naturally by quantifying that commonality - about 20% of people require sleeping pills. Sentence 3 then explains causes, emphasising habitual and psychological influences on sleep. Sentence 5 follows by offering a hopeful transition: these causes can often be controlled and improved, for example by optimising one's home environment. Finally, sentence 4 gives a concrete preventive measure (avoiding mobile blue light before sleep), which serves as a specific example of how to implement the control mentioned in sentence 5. Thus the logical flow is 2→1→3→5→4.

Example - 3

Take up a sample problem and understand how solving Para-jumbles operates. Go through the following set of sentences labeled A to F:
A. The book was Jonah Lehrer's How We Decide and the epiphany was that consciousness could reside in the brain.
B. He was a twenty-year-old philosophy major at Hamilton College.
C. In January 2010, while driving from Chicago to Minneapolis, Sam McNerney played an audiobook and had an epiphany.
D. The quest for an empirical understanding of consciousness has long preoccupied neurobiologists.
E. The standard coursework-ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophy-enthralled him.
F. But McNerney was no neurobiologist.
Ans: CADFBE
Sol: First, identify likely openings: sentence C introduces an event (McNerney's epiphany) and is a natural paragraph opener. Sentence A immediately links to C because A specifies the book that triggered the epiphany - "the epiphany" in A refers back to C. After that, sentence D broadens the subject to the general quest of neurobiologists, which follows smoothly from mentioning an epiphany about consciousness. Sentence F then contrasts McNerney with neurobiologists ("But McNerney was no neurobiologist"), so F follows D. Finally, sentences B and E form a pair: B mentions he was a philosophy major and E explains that his coursework enthralled him; thus B must precede E. Putting these links together gives C → A → D → F → B → E (CADFBE). The sequence preserves pronoun references and logical progression from a specific event to general context and then to personal background.

Example - 4

A. Although there are large regional variations, it is not infrequent to find a large number of people sitting here and there and doing nothing.
B: Once in office, they receive friends and relatives who feel free to call any time without prior appointment.
C. While working, one is struck by the slow and clumsy actions and reactions, indifferent attitudes, procedure rather than outcome orientation, and the lack of consideration for others.
D. Even those who are employed often come late to the office and leave early unless they are forced to be punctual.
E. Work is not intrinsically valued in India.
F: Quite often people visit ailing friends and relatives or go out of their way to help them in their personal matters even during office hours.
Ans: EADBFC
Sol: Sentence E is the natural opening because it states the main idea: work is not intrinsically valued. Sentence A follows by illustrating the result of that attitude - people do nothing. Sentence D continues the thought by showing that even employed people lack punctuality. Sentence B then refers back to "they" (people in office) and explains one reason: they receive friends and relatives without appointments. Sentence F gives another related behaviour - visiting friends or helping them during office hours - which supports B. Finally, sentence C summarises the workplace atmosphere by listing the characteristic behaviours and attitudes observed while working. The chain E → A → D → B → F → C therefore produces a coherent paragraph that moves from general judgement to specific examples and a concluding characterisation.

Link AB- Although there are large regional variations, it is not infrequent to find a large number of people sitting here and there and doing nothing. Once in office, they receive friends and relatives who feel free to call any time without prior appointment.

Link DB- Even those who are employed often come late to the office and leave early unless they are forced to be punctual. Once in office, they receive friends and relatives who feel free to call any time without a prior appointment.

Link FB- Quite often people visit ailing friends and relatives or go out of their way to help them in their personal matters even during office hours. Once in office, they receive friends and relatives who feel free to call any time without a prior appointment.

Which of these links makes sense? Only link DB seems coherent. Now, we examine the options with link DB. We see that options 1 and 3 have link DB in them. Also, both the options have link ADBF. Therefore, ADBF is a link. Now we only need to place sentences E and C. We can do that by reading the sentences in the order given in options 1 and 3.

Direction: The sentences given in the question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labeled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences from the given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.

Example - 5

A. It conceived of the gods as blissful and immortal, yet material, beings made of atoms, inhabiting the empty spaces between worlds in the vastness of infinite space, too far away from the earth to have any interest in what man was doing.
B. In modern popular usage, an epicure is a connoisseur of the arts of life and the refinements of sensual pleasures, especially of good food and drink, attributable to a misunderstanding of the Epicurean doctrine, as promulgated by Christian polemicists.
C. It can be argued that the philosophy is atheistic on a practical level, but avoids the charge of Atheism on the theoretical level, thus avoiding the fate of Socrates, who was tried and executed for the Atheism of his beliefs.
D. Epicureanism emphasizes the neutrality of the gods and their non-interference with human lives, although it did not deny the existence of gods, despite some tendencies towards Atheism.
Ans: DACB
Sol: Sentence D serves as a clear opening because it defines Epicureanism's central claim about the gods. Sentence A follows because it begins with "It conceived..." where "it" refers back to Epicureanism in D; A gives a detailed description of how the philosophy conceived of the gods. Sentence C then discusses the philosophical implications (the practical atheism vs theoretical avoidance of the charge of Atheism), which follows naturally after describing the doctrine. Finally, sentence B addresses the modern misunderstanding of Epicureanism's teachings and therefore closes the paragraph. The pronoun reference and the progression from doctrine → detail → implication → modern misunderstanding make DACB the correct order.

Example - 6

A. The most contentious part of all this is the definition of justification, and there are several schools of thought on the subject.
B. According to Evidentialism, what makes a belief justified in this sense is the possession of evidence - a belief is justified to the extent that it fits a person's evidence.
C. Different varieties of Reliabilism suggest that either justification is not necessary for knowledge provided it is a reliably-produced true belief or justification is required but any reliable cognitive process is sufficient justification.
D. Yet another school, Infallibilism, holds that a belief must not only be true and justified, but that the justification of the belief must necessitate its truth, so that the justification for the belief must be infallible.
Sol: 3. It is evident that A is the opening sentence as it is the only statement that mentions that there are several schools of thought on the definition of justification (the other statements being the different schools of thought). Thus, 1 and 2 are out. D is the likely closing sentence as the phrase "yet another school" makes it highly unlikely for D to precede B or come between B and C. Hence, 3 is the best sequence.

Example - 7

A.  Except that the performance that they're rewarding is industry performance, not company performance.
B. It seems counter-intuitive, then, that company boards and shareholders of most firms approve those packages.
C. A closer look, however, indicates that by endorsing performance-insensitive compensation packages, broadly diversified investors are indeed incentivizing CEOs for good performance.
D. Top management compensation packages guarantee a high level of pay, but are often only weakly linked to the performance of the firm relative to its industry competitors.
Ans: DBCA
Sol: Sentence D is the natural opener: it states the fact about compensation packages being weakly linked to firm performance. Sentence B refers to D when it calls the situation "counter-intuitive," so B follows D. Sentence C then qualifies B by explaining that, on closer inspection, such packages may still incentivise CEOs through a focus on industry or broader measures of performance. Sentence A picks up this idea by clarifying that what is rewarded is industry performance rather than company performance. The sequence D → B → C → A preserves cause and explanation, producing a coherent argument.

Example - 8

A. It's not hard to see why this might be.
B. To many, political lobbying is seen as a way to advance special interests at the expense of the greater good.
C. So when it comes to lobbying on climate change, the prevailing public view is that most firms lobby against climate regulations because greater regulation threatens industry.
D. Consider the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest lobbying organization, which spent over $90 million lobbying against climate change legislation in 2014.
E. That same year, one of the highest-polluting utilities, Southern Company, spent an estimated $9 million on climate change lobbying.
Ans: BCADE
Sol: Sentence B states the general public perception about lobbying and is therefore the best opening. Sentence C follows as a direct application of that general perception to the case of climate change lobbying. Sentence A signals that an explanation for the view in C will be offered next. Sentences D and E supply concrete supporting evidence - major organisations and firms that spent large sums lobbying against climate legislation. The order B → C → A → D → E links general view → specific application → promise of explanation → supporting examples.

Example - 9

A. As Alexander said, gifted leaders do not just gather information, they actively exploit and manipulate the assumptions of the other side.
B. Hannibal of the Alps did not have better information than did the marauding Mongols.
C. Knowing that assumption, Hannibal had all that was necessary to surprise the enemy - and overwhelm them.
D. One thing that Hannibal of the Alps knew was that the Mongols absolutely assumed that nobody would attack Azaria from the desert as to do so would be simply suicidal.
E. You may lack for capital or manpower but who knows what insane information the opposition might be working from?
Ans: EABDC
Sol: Sentence E offers a general observation about uncertainty in what the opposition believes and thus makes a suitable opening. Sentence A then introduces the idea, echoed by Alexander, that gifted leaders exploit the opponent's assumptions. The remaining sentences form an illustrative example focused on Hannibal: B states that Hannibal did not have superior information; D specifies the critical assumption held by the enemy (that attacking from the desert would be suicidal); and C explains how Hannibal used that assumption to surprise and overwhelm them. Putting these together yields E → A → B → D → C, which presents a general principle, cites an authority, and then gives a coherent historical example supporting the claim.