Given below are six sentences taken from a paragraph. The first and the last sentences are numbered S1 and S2 and are placed in the first and last positions respectively and are fixed in their positions. The other four sentences between the first and last sentences are jumbled up and are numbered A, B, C, and D. Rearrange the jumbled sentences in a logical sequence keeping the unity and coherence of the paragraph intact. Choose the correct alternative that best describes the sequence.
S1. As temperatures climbed, the trees proliferated and came into competition with each other.
A. Each banyan spread out farther, sometimes doubling back on itself for safety.
B. Under pressure, it evolved and adapted.
C. Always it grew higher and crept wider, protecting its parent stem as its rivals multiplied, dropping down trunk after trunk, throwing out branch after branch, until at last it learnt the trick of growing into its neighbour banyan, forming a thicket against which no other tree could strive.
D. On this continent, the banyan, thriving in the heat and using its complex system of self-rooting branches, gradually established ascendancy over the other species.
S2. Their complexity became unrivalled, their immortality established.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
S1 mentions "trees" in general. Sentence D is the logical next step because it narrows the focus from "trees" to a specific successful species: the banyan. It explains how the banyan thrived in the heat mentioned in S1.
Step 2: After introducing the banyan's success in D, Sentence B explains how it succeeded: "Under pressure [from the competition in S1], it evolved and adapted."
Step 3: Sentence A provides the first specific detail of that adaptation: spreading out and doubling back for safety.
Step 4: Sentence C follows A by expanding on that growth pattern ("grew higher and crept wider") and describes the final "trick" that led to the "complexity" mentioned in S2.
The correct sequence is DBAC.