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. I wanted to conquer my fear of Red.
A. This was my first piece of journalism in verse.
B. One morning on my way to school, I suddenly came upon Red and his lieutenants.
C. By the next day, the whole street knew it by heart and exulted with triumphant hatred.
D. So, I wrote a poem about him.
S2. His eyes seemed to bore through me.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
Correct Answer
DACB
Explanation
The question asks to rearrange the jumbled sentences to form a coherent paragraph. This passage is from the famous autobiographical essay A Precocious Autobiography by the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, describing his childhood confrontation with a neighborhood bully named Red.
Sentence S1 establishes the narrator's goal to conquer his fear of Red. Sentence D provides the immediate action taken to achieve that goal ("So, I wrote a poem about him"). Sentence A comments directly on the writing of that poem, defining it as his first piece of journalism in verse. Sentence C explains the immediate aftermath of the poem being written ("By the next day, the whole street knew it by heart..."). Finally, sentence B transitions to a specific incident following the poem's fame ("One morning on my way to school, I suddenly came upon Red..."). This sets up a direct interaction with Red, flowing seamlessly into fixed sentence S2, which describes Red's immediate physical reaction ("His eyes seemed to bore through me").
Therefore, the correct chronological and thematic progression is D → A → C → B.
Key Points
Parajumble problems on your exam paper often rely on pronoun or noun-phrase reference links. Connecting the "poem" mentioned in sentence D to the phrase "This was my first piece of journalism in verse" in sentence A allows you to quickly anchor the opening pair of the sequence.