Sentences of a paragraph are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the sentences in the right order to form a meaningful and coherent paragraph.
A. Publishing executives have long described their business as recession-proof; books, after all are relatively cheap compared to other things.
B. While the restrictions of the pandemic have affected business, it is true that a person can watch only so much Netflix, and there aren’t a lot of other options.
C. It is not surprising then that bookstores are performing well; business got a boost when, early in the pandemic, Amazon deprioritised books to focus on medical supplies and household staples.
D. This is because the market for books remained stable after the 2008 recession. However, the challenges in 2020 have been more extreme, with social distancing restrictions at warehouses, vast lockdowns and a rapid economic meltdown.
Solution
Option D: Correct.
In this question, it will help us to form pairs and then arrange them appropriately.
Sentence A is a starting sentence expressing a positive opinion, and sentence D begins with the connecting phrase "this is because" and then goes on to explain the reasons behind a likely positive attitude, so A and D can be a likely pair.
Sentence D ends with expressing a challenge with "restrictions" and sentence B begins with a connecting word "while", elaborating on the restrictions and their impact. Hence, B will come after sentence D.
Remaining sentence C summarises and explains a reason for optimism in the initial sentence; hence, C is a fitting last sentence.
