SSC CGL English · Sentence Rearrangement

Ordering the Parts of a Sentence

Rebuilding one sentence from four or five jumbled parts by finding its subject and verb and joining the loose ends of the parts.

All Sentence Rearrangement notes

Why this matters

Forty-eight questions in the bank, 46 of them from the 2024 shifts and 36 EASY. The parts are short, so the grammar of each join (a subject and its verb, 'the' and its noun, 'had' and its participle) decides the order.

Concept 1 of 2: Subject, verb and the rest

Rebuild the sentence around its core: the part with the subject (who or what), then the part with its verb, then what the verb needs, and last the place, time and reason. An opening phrase such as "Despite the rain" or an instruction such as "stay calm" can also start the sentence.

Definition

1. Find the subject: a noun part that could start the sentence ("the old bus", "a wise man"). 2. Attach the part with its verb ("carries", "has been", "provides"). 3. Add what the verb needs: its object or complement. 4. Add the parts for place, time, reason and condition (to the station, every morning, because, when).

Openers: a phrase such as "Despite the rain" or "In the book of" can come before the subject; an instruction starts with its verb.
Reported speech: a verb such as said or believes is followed by "that" and the reported words.
Fast route: the subject part and its verb part usually decide between two options.

Worked example

Arrange the parts: (P) to the station (Q) the old bus (R) every morning at six (S) carries workers (a) QSPR (b) SQPR (c) QPSR (d) RQSP

Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2024 · Tier I, 9 Sep 2024, Shift 2 · Q78Moderate

Example 1 · Sentence Rearrangement · Ordering the Parts of a Sentence

Parts of a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the parts in the correct order to form a meaningful sentence. (a) the use of animal research (b) throughout the past century (c) and it continues to be used to understand many diseases (d) has been of considerable importance (e) in the field of scientific and medical advancements

Opening with a part that needs something before it

A part that starts with "and", "that", "because" or a bare verb ("has been") cannot open the sentence. Look for the part that can stand first.

Moving a describing phrase away from its noun

A phrase such as "eaten every day" or "who live alone" sits right after the noun it describes, even when that puts it between the subject and the verb.

Drill 25 more on subject, verb and the rest

Concept 2 of 2: Loose ends that must join

Many parts end on a word that cannot stand alone: "the" and "a" need a noun, "had" needs a past participle, "to" often needs a verb, a preposition needs its object, and "who" or "because" needs a clause. Match each loose end with the part that completes it, and the pieces lock together.

Definition

Article and noun: a, an or the, then any describing words, then the noun ("a small red car").
Helping verb and verb: "had" + past participle (had gone), "is going" + to, "has been" + its complement.
To + verb: "helps them to" + learn.
Preposition and object: in, at, on, with, of + a noun ("fell ill with" + fever).
Joining words: and, because, who, which and that begin a part that follows a complete idea; "and" joins two things of the same kind.
Fixed patterns: "X is considered Y", "so much so that", "no matter how".
Fast route: read the last word of each part; it tells you how the next part must begin.

Worked example

Arrange the parts: (P) forgotten to do it (Q) the boy apologised (R) to the teacher (S) because he had (a) QRSP (b) QSRP (c) SPQR (d) RQSP

Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps

The same idea in a real exam question:

SSC CGL · 2024 · Tier I, 25 Sep 2024, Shift 1 · Q92Moderate

Example 2 · Sentence Rearrangement · Ordering the Parts of a Sentence

Parts of a sentence are given below in jumbled order. Arrange the parts in the correct order to form a meaningful sentence. (A) and was searching for them (B) the grandmother couldn't find (C) all around the house (D) placed them on her head (E) her spectacles because she had

Moving on from a part that ends in 'the'

A part that ends in "the" or "a" must be followed by the part with its noun. Any other order leaves the article hanging.

Joining 'and' to the wrong half

"And" joins two things of the same kind: two nouns, two verbs or two clauses. Check that what stands on both sides of it matches.

Drill 21 more on loose ends that must join

Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance

A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.

Watch out for (4)

Opening with a part that needs something before it
→ Subject, verb and the rest
Moving a describing phrase away from its noun
→ Subject, verb and the rest
Moving on from a part that ends in 'the'
→ Loose ends that must join
Joining 'and' to the wrong half
→ Loose ends that must join

Test yourself on Sentence Rearrangement

20 past SSC CGL questions from this chapter, timed at 12 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.

Take the Sentence Rearrangement chapter test Drill all 48 questions