Alphabet, Letter Series & Word Formation: previous-year questions

Answer: (B) P

Each letter is three places ahead of the previous one: A (1), D (4), G (7), J (10), M (13), so the next is the 16th letter, P. The letter after that would be S (19). Option A (O) is a jump of only two and option C (Q) a jump of four. Handy aid for letter positions: EJOTY marks the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th letters, so P, coming just after O (15), is the 16th.

Answer: (C) BAG

RABBIT has the letters R, A, B, B, I, T. RAT (R, A, T), BAT (B, A, T) and BIT (B, I, T) can all be made from these, but BAG needs the letter G, which is not in RABBIT. Method: tick off each letter of the option against the key word, remembering that a letter can be used only as many times as it occurs (here only B occurs twice). Other words that can be formed from RABBIT include BAR, RIB, TAB, BRAT and RABBI.

Answer: (B) accb

Filling a, c, c, b gives abca a bcaab c aab c aa b ca = abca abca abca abca abca, the block 'abca' repeated five times. Any other choice breaks this repeating pattern; for example 'ccaa' puts c after 'abca' where the next block must start with a.

Answer: (C) rstr

The series is the block "strs" repeated four times: strs / strs / strs / strs. Writing out the 16 letters, the given ones are s, t, _, s, _, t, r, s, s, _, r, s, s, t, _, s, so the four blanks must be r, s, t and r in that order, i.e. "rstr". Check: st(r)s (s)trs s(t)rs st(r)s. For such questions, count the total number of letters (given letters plus blanks) and look for a repeating block whose length divides that total, here 16 = 4 × 4.

Answer: (D) Loss

To rectify is to set right a mistake; in the same way, to regain is to get back what was lost, i.e. to make good a loss. In both pairs the first word is an action that undoes or remedies the second. "Make", "find" and "realise" are verbs, not conditions that regaining puts right, so they do not complete the analogy. Similar pairs: cure – disease, repair – damage, quench – thirst, recover – loss.

Answer: (D) M

When the alphabet is written backwards (Z, Y, X, ...), the $n$th letter is the $(27 - n)$th letter of the normal order. So the 14th letter of the reversed alphabet is the $27 - 14 = 13$th letter of the normal alphabet, which is M. The trap is N, the 14th letter in the normal order. M and N are the two middle letters, 13th and 14th from either end.

Answer: (A) N

The distinct letters, sorted alphabetically, are A, A, D, E, I, N, O, R, R, R, T, X, Y (unique letters: A,D,E,I,N,O,R,T,X,Y); arranged in order the 5th distinct letter is N.

Answer: (C) (iii), (v), (ii), (i), (iv)

Comparing the letters after "Epi-": Epigene (g) comes first, then Epilogue (l), then Episode (s), and finally Epitaxy and Epitome (both starting "epit-"), where comparing the 5th letter "a" (Epitaxy) precedes "o" (Epitome). This gives the order: Epigene, Epilogue, Episode, Epitaxy, Epitome — i.e., (iii), (v), (ii), (i), (iv).

Answer: (B) Y

NECESSARY has letters N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y at positions 1-9. Swapping positions 1&3 (N and C) gives CEN ESSARY; swapping positions 4&6 (E and S) gives CENSS EARY; swapping positions 7&9 (A and Y) gives CENSSEYRA. Reading off the 7th letter from the left in this new arrangement gives Y.

Answer: (C) Three

In MEAN, the consonants are M and N; replacing each with the previous alphabet letter gives L and M respectively, producing the letter set L, E, A, M. Using each of these letters exactly once, three meaningful English words can be formed: MEAL, LAME and MALE.

Answer: (D) Intelligence : Stupidity

"Poverty" and "Prosperity" are direct antonyms; "Intelligence" and "Stupidity" share the same antonym relationship, unlike the other pairs, which are not simple opposites of each other.

Answer: (C) 4

Identifying pairs where 9 is between 6 and 7 (i.e., pattern 6-9-7 or 7-9-6): scanning the sequence ...6|9|6|9|9|6|6|7|6|9|7|9|6|6|9|7|7|9|6|6|6|7... There are 4 nines sandwiched between 6 and 7. The source key gives (C) 4.