In addition to Reading Comprehension for IBPS PO, most students usually find it hard to solve Parajumbles for IBPS PO. This post mainly focuses on explaining a systematic approach to solving Para jumbles in PO examinations like SBI PO and IBPS PO.
However, this approach will be of immense utility even when solving Parajumbles questions in any of the banking examinations. A student can easily expect at least 5 Parajumbles for IBPS PO paper. An IBPS PO prelims paper usually consists of 30 verbal questions while IBPS PO Mains consists of 40 verbal questions. Thus, Parajumbles questions constitute around 16.66% and 12.5% of IBPS PO prelims and mains verbal paper respectively. So, it is highly advisable for students to get adept at solving Parajumbles for IBPS PO.
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What are Parajumbles?
Parajumbles for IBPS PO are usually a set of 5-6 sentences which are arranged in any random order. These sentences when arranged in a particular order, form a coherent, meaningful paragraph. Our objective, while solving such questions, is to arrange the sentences in such a logical manner. Through these questions, the examiner aims to check the student’s reading and reasoning skills. Contrary to popular belief, a student can solve all Parajumbles for IBPS PO with high accuracy by following a systematic approach and plenty of practice.
Tricks to Solve Parajumbles:
1) Quickly read through the sentences
The first thing that one should do while solving Parajumbles for IBPS PO is to quickly skim through the given sentences. This will help you in developing a faint idea about the topic of discussion. Identifying the correct theme of the paragraph goes a long way in solving a jumbled set.
2) Identify the opening sentence
Once you have an idea about the sentences in hand, you can narrow down the possibilities for the opening sentence. The opening sentence usually depicts the scene, introduces the main character/subject, or describes the main topic. In short, this is a sentence which lays the foundation for the rest of the sentences.
For example, consider the following set of three sentences-
A) They wanted to go out and woo the King’s daughter; for the maiden in question had publicly announced that she would choose for her husband that youth who could arrange his words best.
B) Far in the interior of the country lay an old baronial hall, and in it lived an old proprietor, who had two sons, which two young men thought themselves too clever by half.
C) So these two geniuses prepared themselves a full week for the wooing.
We can notice that among these sentences, sentence B should most likely be the opening sentence, as it-
(i) Introduces the scene
(ii) Introduces the main characters- old proprietor and his two sons
(iii) Describes additional quality about the young men which are the main subject of attention in the rest of the sentences.
However, it is not necessary that the opening sentence introduces the scene or characters. Sometimes, the author puts his viewpoints straight upfront and then produces facts to support them. In these cases, having the first read through really helps.
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3) Ensure smooth transitions throughout the paragraph
This is the most important point to consider while arranging sentences in order. Many times we have a set of sentences which make sense in more than one ways. In such sets, we have to select the arrangement which provides the smoothest transition from the opening to the ending sentence.
Following are some of the ways in which you ensure a smooth transition:
Pronouns:
Pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘they’, ‘him’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘that’, ‘those’, ‘these’, ‘this’ etc. are often used to refer to a person, place, thing, or noun phrases. When encountered with such pronouns, we should always try to identify the object they are referring to. The sentences describing these objects should always precede the sentences using pronouns to refer them.
For example, consider the following two sentences:
A) Akbar, the son of the dethroned Emperor Humâyun, was born on October 14, 1542, at Amarkot in Sindh.
B) After an exile of fifteen years, his father was again permitted to return to his capital in 1555.
Sentence B uses the phrase ‘his father’ to refer to Akbar’s father. Thus, the sentence introducing Akbar i.e. A should always precede sentence B.
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Transition words:
Transition words are the words which link different sentences together. Identifying such words can help you to form pairs which give you a lot of clarity about the flow of ideas.
Some of the commonly used transition words are:
as well as, similarly, in other words, also, in addition to, for example, for instance, instead, besides, on one hand/on the other hand, at the same time, to begin with, in the time being, simultaneously, in the meanwhile, while, despite, however, but, nevertheless, in other words, in short
Acronyms:
In Parajumbles, we sometimes encounter acronyms. Always look out for sentences which give the full form of these acronyms. This sentence precedes sentences where the acronym is used.
For example, consider the following sentences.
A) International Monetary Fund is an international organization headquartered in the USA.
B) IMF aims for the betterment of the member nations.
Here, sentence A will always precede B as B uses an acronym for the International Monetary Fund.
Chronological order:
Make sure that the arranged sentences follow the time sequence. This can be done by looking out for words that indicate time-sequence.
Some examples are:
Firstly/Secondly/Thirdly, Before/After/Later
Sometimes the sentences have additional information such as dates, year, etc. So, the sentence about the year 1966 follows a sentence containing information about the year 1965.
Articles:
The articles used in English are ‘a’, ‘an’, which are indefinite articles, and ‘the’ which is a definite article.
‘A’ and ‘an’ are used when the author wants to make a remark about a general object. ‘The’ is used when the author is referring to a specific object.
So, the sentence with indefinite article comes before the sentence before the definite article, if both indefinite and definite articles are used for the same noun.
For example, consider the following sentences:
A) A shepherd went to the forest to hunt and collect forage for dinner.
B) But it was difficult to identify the mare’s pedigree just by looking.
C) The shepherd saw a beautiful young mare strolling near a lake.
In sentence A, the shepherd is referred with article ‘a’, but in C he is referred by article ‘the’. Thus, C should come after A. Similarly, in sentence C, the article used for the mare is ‘a’ while that in B is ‘the’. So, B should come after C. So, the correct order would be A-C-B.
General to Specific:
One should always make sure that the flow of idea is from general to specific while solving Parajumbles for IBPS PO. In other words, the flow of idea should be from a generalized/introductory statement to a sentence which provides further details about the subject.
For example- A paragraph is likely to describe pollution first and then move on to describing the types of pollution.
Parajumbles practice questions for IBPS PO
Now that we have seen some tips and tricks let’s solve Parajumbles for IBPS PO.
Question) In the following question, some sentences are given, which when arranged properly, form a coherent, meaningful passage. Arrange the sentences in the most logical manner.
A) She saw the new altar with the painted pictures and the carved angels.
B) Their hair gleamed golden in the sunshine, lovely to behold; but the real sunshine was more beautiful still.
C) A drummer’s wife went into the church.
D) Those upon the canvas and in the glory over the altar were just as beautiful as the carved ones, and they were painted and gilt into the bargain.
E) It was lovely thus to look at the sunshine of heaven.
Step 1: On the first read through of the sentences we can make out that the paragraph is about a drummer’s wife who looks at painted pictures and found it lovely.
Step 2: Now, let’s identify the opening sentence. Sentence C introduces us with the drummer’s wife and also sets the scene for the sentences to follow. Thus, the opening sentence must be C.
Step 3: We can see that sentence A uses pronoun ‘she’ to refer to the drummer’s wife. So, this sentence is likely to follow sentence C. Similarly sentences B and D also use pronoun ‘those’ and ‘their’ to refer to the angels carved and painted. So, they should follow A in some order.
Now, to decide the order of B and D, we will use the General to Specific rule. Sentence D admires both the painted and carved angels and compares them in a general sense. But sentence B makes a specific remark on the hair of these angels. Thus, B should follow D.
Finally, E completes the paragraph as it perfectly encompasses the feeling of the viewer and provides an apt ending to the flow of ideas.
Thus, the correct sequence is C-A-D-B-E.
So in this post, we tried to cover some tips and tricks which come in handy while solving Parajumbles for IBPS PO. They are also useful for other banking examinations. Read tips for English section of IBPS exam and maximize your score. You will get better at it as you keep practicing more questions. Since Parajumbles questions are ever-present in the IBPS PO papers, it’s prudent to take them seriously. So, keep practicing!
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Do check our blog on Quadratic Equations for IBPS PO here.
