Arranging words in alphabetical order

Arranging words in alphabetical order types of questions are one of the most common types of alphabet test based questions being asked in competitive exams. In this type, certain words are given to us and we have to arrange them in an order in which they appear in the dictionary.

Let us take an example in order to have a deeper understanding of this type and the trick that we are going to apply:

Putting words in alphabetical order

Question:  Arrange the following words according to a dictionary arrangement (in alphabetical order)?                                                                     (S.S.C 2002)

a)Sentinel, b) Sentimentally, c) Sententious, d) Sentence, e) sentimentalize.

Step 1: Firstly, Underline each word up to the letter they are all same like in this case  a)Sentinel, b) Sentimentally, c) Sententious, d) Sentence, e) Sentimentalize

So up to 4^th letter they are all same so we can’t decide the order.

Step 2: Now have a look at the words and you will notice that 5^th letter in options (a), (b), (e) is I and in option (c) and (d) it is e.

So it is clear from the above statement that option (c) and (d) will come before the options (a), (b), (e) in our final rearrangement.

Step 3: Divide the given options into two groups

Arranging words in alphabetical order

Arranging words in alphabetical order:

Step 4: Now solve each group individually in order to get the final result.

In Group 1, elements up to 6^th letter are all same, so no conclusion can be drawn but 7^th letter of option (d) comes first so that means option (d) will come 1^st and option (c) will come second in our final arrangement.

Now let us move to Group 2 containing options (a), (b), (e).On applying the same procedure, we will get that correct order in Group 2 is viz.   Options (e), (b), (a) .

Step 5: On combining both the group, the correct order will be

Sentence, Sententious, Sentimentalize, Sentimentally, Sentinel.

You can also see Article on Letter-word problems.

So in this way you can solve any problem based on alphabetical order of words. If you have any queries then do comment below.