A word arrangement machine, when given an input line of words, rearranges them step by step following a particular rule. An illustration of an input and its rearrangement is given below.
Input: butterfly igloo hail telephone sock basin palm
Step I: telephone butterfly igloo hail sock basin palm
Step II: telephone sock butterfly igloo hail basin palm
Step III: telephone sock hail butterfly igloo basin palm
Step IV: telephone sock hail palm butterfly igloo basin
Step V: telephone sock hail palm basin butterfly igloo
Step VI: telephone sock hail palm basin igloo butterfly
Step VI is the last step of this input.
Input: paper canal bulb cliff castle guava brush
Following the same rule, which step for this input will be: guava bulb paper canal cliff castle brush?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Step II
Compare each step of the illustration with the one before it. In each step, the word whose last letter comes first in the alphabet, among the words not yet arranged, moves to the next place from the left end, and all the other words keep their order.
Step I: ‘telephone’ ends in ‘e’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the first place from the left
Step II: ‘sock’ ends in ‘k’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the second place from the left
Step III: ‘hail’ ends in ‘l’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the third place from the left
Step IV: ‘palm’ ends in ‘m’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the fourth place from the left
Step V: ‘basin’ ends in ‘n’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the fifth place from the left
Step VI: ‘igloo’ ends in ‘o’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the sixth place from the left
After Step VI the words stand in the alphabetical order of their last letters, so the arrangement is complete.
Apply the same rule to the input paper canal bulb cliff castle guava brush until the given line appears.
Step I: ‘guava’ ends in ‘a’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the first place from the left, giving guava paper canal bulb cliff castle brush
Step II: ‘bulb’ ends in ‘b’, the earliest last letter among the words left, so it moves to the second place from the left, giving guava bulb paper canal cliff castle brush
The line guava bulb paper canal cliff castle brush is Step II.