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GATE 2025 EE GA Q.6: solution and answer

GATE 2025 · EEGA Q.6 · 2 marks · MCQ

Identify the option that has the most appropriate sequence such that a coherent paragraph is formed:

P. It is because deer, like most of the animals that tigers normally prey on, run much faster! It simply means, another day of empty stomach for the big cats.

Q. Tigers spend most of their life searching for food.

R. If they trace the scent of deer, tigers follow the trail, chase the deer for a mile or two in the dark, and yet may not catch them.

S. For several nights, they relentlessly prowl through the forest, hunting for a trail that may lead to their prey.

  1. (A)

    S → P → R → Q

  2. (B)

    R → P → S → Q

  3. (C)

    Q → S → R → P

  4. (D)

    P → Q → S → R

See the question in the paper
GATE 2025 EE GA question 6Tap to open full size

Answer and solution

ANSWER

The coherent order is Q → S → R → P, which is option (C).

Official answer: CSource: Official answer key, GATE 2025 EE (IIT Roorkee)

  1. Find the opening sentence. An opener has to make sense with nothing before it and has to name its subject. Q, "Tigers spend most of their life searching for food.", is a general statement that names "Tigers" and depends on nothing earlier. S ("For several nights, they relentlessly prowl…") and R ("If they trace the scent of deer…") both use "they" before any animal has been named. P opens with "It is because", which has to explain something already said. So Q must come first, and only option (C) starts with Q.

  2. Pronoun reference: "they" must point back to a noun already mentioned. In S, "For several nights, they relentlessly prowl through the forest, hunting for a trail that may lead to their prey.", "they" means the tigers from Q, and S gives the detail of the "searching for food". So Q → S.

  3. Chronological order: a hunt goes search, then trail, then chase. S ends with the tigers "hunting for a trail that may lead to their prey". R picks up from there: "If they trace the scent of deer, tigers follow the trail, chase the deer for a mile or two in the dark, and yet may not catch them." So S → R.

  4. Cause and effect: "It is because" gives the reason for the statement just before it. P, "It is because deer, like most of the animals that tigers normally prey on, run much faster!", explains R's "and yet may not catch them". Its last line, "It simply means, another day of empty stomach for the big cats.", ties back to Q's "searching for food" and closes the paragraph. So R → P.

  5. Check the options. The order Q → S → R → P is option (C). Options (A), (B) and (D) start with S, R or P. Each of those sentences leans on something that has not been said yet: "they" with no noun before it, or "It is because" with nothing to explain. So none of them can open the paragraph.

KEY IDEA

Start with the one sentence that makes sense on its own and names the subject (Q, \"Tigers…\"). Then join the rest using pronoun reference (S's \"they\" means the tigers), the order of events in a hunt (search, then trail, then chase: S → R) and cause and effect (P's \"It is because\" explains R's \"may not catch them\").

WATCH OUT FOR

Opening with S because \"For several nights\" sounds like a story's first line (option A), or with P because it holds the vivid punchline (option D). Neither works. S's \"they\" has no noun before it to refer to, and P's \"It is because\" needs an earlier statement to explain. The opener must be the sentence that names \"Tigers\", which is Q.

From the GATE 2025 EE paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 18 Reading questions, with notes

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