IPMAT Indore 2022 · Verbal Ability · Question 32

Step 1 — find the opener. Sentence 3 is the news hook: “The Municipal Corporation is set to breathe life back into the city’s Sion Talao (Lake).” It introduces the lake by its full name and states the event the paragraph exists to report.

Note how the others depend on it: 1, 2 and 4 all say “the lake” with the definite article, and 5 says “the talao” — all requiring prior introduction.

Step 2 — the background. Sentence 1 describes what the lake is: its location, heritage status and age. This is the natural follow-up to naming it.

Step 3 — the past. Sentence 5: “Earlier the talao was a known natural water tank…” The time marker takes the paragraph back before the present day.

Step 4 — the decline. Sentence 4: “Over the years, the lake has lost its prominence.” This moves forward from the earlier state and names the deterioration.

Step 5 — the present state. Sentence 2: “Once home to several marine creatures, the lake is now surrounded by high-rise residential buildings.” The then/now contrast gives the concrete picture of what the decline amounts to, closing the paragraph — and explaining why rejuvenation is needed.

The sequence:

3\to 1\to 5\to 4\to 2

Answer: 31542

Shortcut. The news sentence opens. Sentence 3 is the only one reporting an event — a civic body about to act — and it is the only one naming the lake in full. Everything else is background.

Then the time markers order the rest: Earlier (5) → Over the years (4) → now (2). Sort on those three phrases.

A general principle for this kind of paragraph: news first, then background, then the present situation that justifies the news. Journalistic paragraphs very often invert chronology this way, which is why the “earliest sentence first” instinct would fail here.