Parajumbles with Exercises: Definition, Examples and Sample Questions

In VARC sections of MBA entrance exams, the topics cannot be classified as a Vocabulary or Grammar question. Rather, it is more of a sentence formation or sentence arrangement type of question. Parajumbles literally mean jumbled paragraphs. In the Para jumbles questions, candidates are given a set of related sentences which are not arranged in orderly manner. Candidates have to read each of the sentences and arrange them sequentially.

Generally, the instruction given along with the Parajumbles question is, “Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the given choices to construct a coherent paragraph". Although at first look it may seem that solving Parajumble questions is a cakewalk, but in reality, these questions can be quite tricky owing to the perplexing sentences.

Also Read:

• Reading Comprehension preparation tips
• Verbal Ability preparation tips
• Prepositions with exercises
• Pronouns with exercises

Sample the following para jumbles questions to get an idea about the type of questions to expect in the Verbal Ability section of MBA entrance exams:

A. But in the industrial era destroying the enemy's productive capacity means bombing the factories which are located in the cities.

B. So in the agrarian era, if you need to destroy the enemy's productive capacity, what you want to do is bum his fields, or if you're really vicious, salt them.

C. Now in the information era, destroying the enemy's productive capacity means destroying the information infrastructure.

D. How do you do battle with your enemy?

E. The idea is to destroy the enemy's productive capacity, and depending upon the economic foundation, that productive capacity is different in each case 

F. With regard to defence, the purpose of the military is to defend the nation and be prepared to do battle with its enemy.

Answer Options:

a. FDEBAC

b. FCABED

c. DEBACF

d. DFEBAC

Or

A. The situations in which violence occurs and the nature of that violence tends to be clearly defined at least in theory, as in the proverbial Irishman's question: "Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?"

B. So the actual risk to outsiders, though no doubt higher than our societies, is calculable.

C. Probably the only uncontrolled applications of force are those of social superiors to social inferiors and even here there are probably some rules.

D. However binding the obligation to kill, members of feuding families engaged in mutual massacre will be genuinely appalled if by some mischance a bystander or outsider is killed.

Answer Options

a. DABC

b. ACDB

c. CBAD

d. DBAC

The above questions were asked in CAT.

Also Read: MBA Preparation 2024: Tips to Prepare for MBA Entrance Exams

There are several approaches which a test-taker can follow while solving Parajumble questions. The key strategies are as follows:

Identify the Opening Sentence: After reading all the sentences, it would be easy to find out the first and opening sentence. Once the first or opening sentence is identified, it would be easy to arrange the other sentences sequentially.

Identify the Closing Sentence: It is relatively easy to find out the closing or last sentence in a Parajumble. The last sentence will have a conclusive tone to it, which will make it easier to identify the final sentence.

Usage of Pronouns and Acronyms: The sentences, which would have pronouns or acronyms would be the middle sentences since a paragraph’s first sentence will carry proper nouns and full forms. Hence, any sentence of the Parajumble would be one of the middle sentences.

Note the Transitional Words: Test takers should look for transitional words such as ‘also’, ‘as well’, ‘furthermore’, etc. The transition words act as a bridge between one sentence to another, rather one idea to another in a paragraph. Observing the transition words can lead to the connecting sentence.

Free CAT Mock Test

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Q1: A. With that, I swallowed the shampoo, and obtained the most realistic results almost on the spot.
B. The man shuffled away into the back regions to make up a prescription, and after a moment I got through on the shop-telephone to the Consulate, intimating my location.
C. Then, while the pharmacist was wrapping up a six-ounce bottle of the mixture, I groaned and inquired whether he could give me something for acute gastric cramp.
D. I intended to stage a sharp gastric attack, and entering an old-fashioned pharmacy, I asked for a popular shampoo mixture, consisting of olive oil and flaked soap.
A: (a) DCBA

(b) DACB
(c) BDAC

(d) BCDA

CAT 1999

Q2:  A. If caught in the act, they were punished, not for the crime, but for allowing themselves to be caught another lash of the whip.
B. The bellicose Spartans sacrificed all the finer things in life for military expertise.
C. Those fortunate enough to survive babyhood were taken away from their mothers at the age of seven to undergo rigorous military training.
D. This consisted mainly of beatings and deprivations of all kinds like going around barefoot in winter, and worse, starvation so that they would be forced to steal food to survive.
E. Male children were examined at birth by the city council and those deemed too weak to become soldiers were left to die of exposure.
A: (a) BECDA

(b) ECADB
(c) BCDAE

(d) ECDAB

CAT 2000

Q3: A. Passivity is not, of course, universal.
B. In areas where there are no lords or laws, or in frontier zones where all men go armed, the attitude of the peasantry may well be different.
C. So indeed it may be on the fringe of the unsubmissive.
D. However, for most of the soil-bound peasants the problem is not whether to be normally passive or active, but when to pass from one state to another.
E. This depends on an assessment of the political situation.
A: (a) BEDAC

(b) CDABE
(c) EDBAC

(d) ABCDE

CAT 2001

Q4: A. As officials, their vision of a country shouldn’t run too far beyond that of the local people with whom they have to deal.
B. Ambassadors have to choose their words.
C. To say what they feel they have to say, they appear to be denying or ignoring part of what they know.
D. So, with ambassadors as with other expatriates in black Africa, there appears at a first meeting a kind of ambivalence.
E. They do a specialized job and it is necessary for them to live ceremonial lives.
A: (a) BCEDA

(b) BEDAC
(c) BEADC

(d) BCDEA

CAT 2002

Q5: A. To avoid this, the QWERTY layout put the keys most likely to be hit in rapid succession on opposite sides. This made the keyboard slow, the story goes, but that was the idea.
B. A different layout, which had been patented by August Dvorak in 1936, was shown to be much faster.
C. The QWERTY design (patented by Christopher Sholes in 1868 and sold to Remington in 1873) aimed to solve a mechanical problem of early typewriters.
D. Yet the Dvorak layout has never been widely adopted, even though (with electric typewriters and then PCs) the anti-jamming rational for QWERTY has been defunct for years.
E. When certain combinations of keys were struck quickly, the type bars often jammed.
A: (a) BDACE

(b) CEABD
(c) BCDEA

(d) CAEBD

CAT 2003

Q6: A. But this does not mean that death was the Egyptians’ only preoccupation.

B. Even papyri come mainly from pyramid temples.

C. Most of our traditional sources of information about the Old Kingdom are monuments of the rich like pyramids and tombs.

D. Houses in which ordinary Egyptian lived have not been preserved, and when most people died they were buried in simple graves.

E. We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people, as most monuments were made for the rich.

A: (a) CDBEA

(b) ECDAB

(c) EDCBA

(d) DECAB

CAT 2004

Q7: A. Personal experience of mothering and motherhood are largely framed in relation to two discernible or “official” discourses: the “medical discourse and natural childbirth discourse”. Both of these tend to focus on the “optimistic stories” of birth and mothering and underpin stereotypes of the “good mother”.

B. At the same time, the need for medical expert guidance is also a feature for contemporary reproduction and motherhood. But constructions of good mothering have not always been so conceived – and in different contexts may exist in parallel to other equally dominant discourses.

C. Similarly, historical work has shown how what are now taken-for-granted aspects of reproduction and mothering practices result from contemporary “pseudo-scientific directives” and “managed constructs”. These changes have led to a reframing of modern discourses that pattern pregnancy and motherhood leading to an acceptance of the need for greater expert management.

D. The contrasting, overlapping, and ambiguous strands within these frameworks focus to varying degrees on a woman’s biological tie to her child and predisposition to instinctively know and be able to care for her child.

E. In addition, a third, “unofficial popular discourse” comprising “old wives” tales and based on maternal experiences of childbirth has also been noted. These discourses have also been acknowledged in work exploring the experiences of those who apparently do not “conform” to conventional stereotypes of the “good mother”.

A: (a) EDBC

(b) BCED

(c) DBCE

(d) EDCB

(e) BCDE

CAT 2007

Q8: A. Branded disposable diapers are available at many supermarkets and drug stores.

B. If one supermarket sets a higher price for a diaper, customers may buy that brand elsewhere.

C. By contrast, the demand for private-label products may be less price-sensitive since it is available only at a corresponding supermarket chain.

D. So the demand for branded diapers at any particular store may be quite price sensitive.

E. For instance, only SavOn Drugs stores sell SavOn Drugs diapers.

F. Then stores should set a higher incremental margin percentage for private label diapers.

A: Choose from the below options:

(a) ABCDEF

(b) ABCEDF

(c) ADBCEF

(d) AEDBCF

CAT 2002

Q9: A. Similarly, turning to caste, even though being lower caste is undoubtedly a separate cause of disparity, its impact is all the greater when the lower-caste families also happen to be poor.

B. Belonging to a privileged class can help a woman to overcome many barriers that obstruct women from less thriving classes.

C. It is the interactive presence of these two kinds of deprivation – being low class and being female – that massively impoverishes women from the less privileged classes.

D. A congruence of class deprivation and gender discrimination can blight the lives of poorer women very severely.

E. Gender is certainly a contributor to societal inequality, but it does not act independently of class.

A: Choose from the below options:

(a) EABDC

(b) EBDCA

(c) DAEBC

(d) BECDA

CAT 2005

Q10: A. Call it the third wave sweeping the Indian media.

B. Now they are starring in a new role, as suave dealmakers who are in a hurry to strike alliances and agreements.

C. Look around and you will find a host of deals that have been inked or are ready to be finalized.

D. Then the media barons wrested back control from their editors, and turned marketing warriors with the brand as their missile.

E. The first came with those magnificent men in their mahogany chambers who took on the world with their mighty fountain pens.

A: Choose from the below options:

(a) ACBED

(b) CEBDA

(c) CAEBD

(d) AEDBC

Q11: The four sentences (labeled 1, 2, 3, 4) given in this question when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order of the sentences.

1. In the central nervous system of other animal species, such a comprehensive regeneration in injured neurons has not yet been proven beyond doubt.
2. Biologists from the University of Bayreuth have discovered a uniquely rapid form of regeneration in injured neurons and their function in the central nervous system of zebrafish.
3. They studied the Mauthner cells, which are solely responsible for the escape behaviour in fish, and previously regarded as incapable of regeneration.
4. However, their ability to regenerate crucially depends on the location of the injury. 

Q12: The four sentences (labeled 1, 2, 3, 4) given in this question when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order of the sentences.

1. A popular response is the exhortation to plant more trees.
2. It seems all but certain that global warming will go well above two-degrees- quite how high no one knows yet.
3. Burning them releases it, which is why the scale of forest fires in the Amazon basin last year garnered headlines.
4. This is because trees sequester carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide.

Q13: The four sentences (labeled 1, 2, 3, 4) given in this question when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order of the sentences.

1. The work is more than the text, for the text only takes on life, when it is realized and furthermore the realization is by no means independent of the individual disposition of the reader.
2. The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence and this convergence is not identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader.
3. From this polarity it follows that the literary work cannot be completely identical with the text, or with the realization of the text, but in fact must lie halfway between the two.
4. The literary work has two poles, which we might call the artistic and the aesthetic; the artistic refers to the text created by the author, and the aesthetic to the realization accomplished by the reader.

Q14. The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

“It does seem to me that the job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential,” Rowan Atkinson said of cancel culture. “Every joke has a victim. That’s the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is made to look ridiculous.” The Netflix star continued, “I think you’ve got to be very, very careful about saying what you’re allowed to make jokes about. You’ve always got to kick up? Really?” He added, “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”

1. Every joke needs a victim and one needs to include people from lower down the
society and not just the upper class.

2. All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society,
which is inconsistent with cancel culture.

3. Cancel culture does not understand the role and duty of comedians, which is to
deride and mock everyone.

4. Victims of jokes must not only be politicians and royalty, but also arrogant people
from lower classes should be mentioned by comedians.

Q 15: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. What has only recently emerged, though, is that children's conviction about their own capacity to control what happens in their lives and this knowledge suggests a window of opportunity for inoculating them against depression before it strikes.
2. Just like adults, sceptical methods of deciphering defeats appear to take care of the feeling of helplessness and misery at the heart of youngsters' depression.
3. That individuals who are as of now discouraged think in these manners have long been known.
4. One line of evidence comes from studies of children's belief about their own ability to control what happens in their lives- for example, being able to change things for the better.

Q 16. The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. This harms aquatic ecosystems, human health and also pollutes major sources of freshwater.
2. Harmful chemicals from pesticides not only pollute the soil and water around the farms but also reach rivers and oceans, a new study established.
3. Globally, around 70,000 tonnes of potentially harmful chemicals find their way into aquifers every year, the report published in the journal Nature showed.
4. The findings are based on an analysis of the geographical distribution of 92 common pesticides.

Q 17. The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. In Tokyo, they built an expressway linking the international airport in Haneda to the centre, and widened some of the city’s major arteries.
2. These infrastructure improvements helped to bring about the Japanese economic miracle over the next couple of decades.
3. Tokyo 2020 was supposed to be a great economic stimulus, replicating the achievements of Tokyo 1964.
4. It was thanks to hosting that Olympics that Japan invested in infrastructure such as the famous Shinkansen bullet train.

Q 18. Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1. However, if we’re to be successful and create a world that remedies the situation we’re confronted with, everyone needs to step up and demand a better world.
2. A world free from the inequalities of climate change, a world free from the economic disparities created by the system that is to be held responsible for the climate crisis.
3. That will help meet our target of 60% of energy to come from low-carbon sources within 12 years.
4. We’re united under the banner of “system change, not climate change”

Q 19. Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1.  The transition from nationalism of the independence movement, which was a costume ball of ideas, to the uniformity of the nation state is complete.
2. This vigilantism of patriotic and chauvinist groups has the seal of official approval.
3. A good citizen is not only someone who is corseted in dress but one who wears a corseted mind.
4. Demolishing the creativity of civil society by turning every act of dissent and difference into a canned idea of sedition.

Q 20. Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1. Where necessary with regard to the nature of the work or the working conditions in general working time may amount to an average of 40 hours per week for a period of at most four weeks.
2. Although there are large regional variations, it is not infrequent to find a large number of people sitting here and there and doing nothing.
3. Even those who are employed often come late to the office and leave early unless they are forced to be punctual.
4. Once in office, they receive friends and relatives who feel free to call any time without prior appointment.

Q 21: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:

1.Various industrial sectors including retail, transit systems, enterprises, educational institutions, event organizing, finance, travel etc. have now started leveraging these beacons solutions to track and communicate with their customers.

2.A beacon fixed on to a shop wall enables the retailer to assess the proximity of the customer, and come up with a much targeted or personalized communication like offers, discounts and combos on products in each shelf.

3.Smart phones or other mobile devices can capture the beacon signals, and distance can be estimated by measuring received signal strength.

4.Beacons are tiny and inexpensive, micro-location-based technology devices that can send radio frequency signals and notify nearby Bluetooth devices of their presence and transmit information.

Q 22: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. “It does seem to me that the job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential,” Rowan Atkinson said of cancel culture. “Every joke has a victim. That’s the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is made to look ridiculous.” The Netflix star continued, “I think you’ve got to be very, very careful about saying what you’re allowed to make jokes about. You’ve always got to kick up? Really?” He added, “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”

Option:

1. Every joke needs a victim and one needs to include people from lower down the society and not just the upper class.
2. All jokes target someone and one should be able to joke about anyone in the society, which is inconsistent with cancel culture.
3. Cancel culture does not understand the role and duty of comedians, which is to deride and mock everyone.
4. Victims of jokes must not only be politicians and royalty, but also arrogant people from lower classes should be mentioned by comedians.

Q 23: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:

1. The more we are able to accept that our achievements are largely out of our control, the easier it becomes to understand that our failures, and those of others, are too.
2. But the raft of recent books about the limits of merit is an important correction to the arrogance of contemporary entitlement and an opportunity to reassert the importance of luck, or grace, in our thinking.
3. Meritocracy as an organising principle is an inevitable function of a free society, as we are designed to see our achievements as worthy of reward.
4. And that in turn should increase our humility and the respect with which we treat our fellow citizens, helping ultimately to build a more compassionate society.

Q 24. The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and choose the correct option.

1. This is where digital marketing comes into the picture.
2. Nowadays, many people across the world are spending their time online.
3. In order to benefit from this massive audience base, maximising your online presence is key.
4. Digital marketing is all about reaching the right people at the right time
5. 4231
6. 2314
7. 1234
8. 1324

Answers:

Q1: (a) Q2: (a) Q3: (d) Q4: (c) Q5: (b) Q6: (c) Q7: (a) Q8: (c) Q9: (b) Q10: (d) Q11: 2341 Q12: 2143 Q13: 4312 Q 14: 1 Q 15: 2314 Q 16: 2134 Q 17:  2134 Q 18: 3rd sentence  Q 19: 4th sentence Q 20: 1st sentence Q 21 (4312) Q 22 (2nd sentence) Q 23 (3214) Q 24: (2314)

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