IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 29

Step 1 — find the opener. Sentence 2 is the only general claim, and it names its subject in full with no backward reference:

“Participation in environmental education programmes can motivate children to act responsibly towards the environment.”

Every other sentence depends on something already said: 4 describes one specific programme, 3 begins with “They”, and 1 begins with “This instance”.

Step 2 — the example. Sentence 4 supplies the specific case that illustrates the claim: six hundred children in an ocean pollution education programme. General claim → concrete instance is the paragraph’s basic move.

Step 3 — the outcome. Sentence 3 begins “They were motivated to act…” — they must be the six hundred children of sentence 4. This is a mandatory pair: 4\to 3.

Step 4 — the closer. Sentence 1 begins “This instance highlights…” — this instance refers to the whole episode just described, and the sentence draws the general moral from it. A sentence that comments on everything before it can only come last.

The sequence:

2\to 4\to 3\to 1

Answer: 2431

Shortcut. Three of the four sentences are disqualified from opening by a backward reference — They (3), This instance (1) — or by being a specific example with no frame (4). That leaves 2 as the opener without any further thought.

Then the pronoun chain finishes it: They in 3 needs the children introduced in 4, so 4\to 3 is locked, and This instance in 1 needs the whole story, so 1 is last.

The shape here is the commonest in para jumbles: claim → example → result → moral. Recognise it and you can often order five sentences without reading them closely.