CAT 2020 Slot 1 — VARC Question 21
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Tensions and sometimes conflict remain an issue in and between the 11 states in South East Asia (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam).
2. China’s rise as a regional military power and its claims in the South China Sea have become an increasingly pressing security concern for many South East Asian states.
3. Since the 1990s, the security environment of South East Asia has seen both continuity and profound changes.
4. These concerns cause states from outside the region to take an active interest in South East Asian security.
Answer & solution
Answer: 3124
Easy
Spot the opener by tense and scope, then chain by pronoun reference. A sentence that opens a time-frame (“Since the 1990s…”) is a strong candidate to lead; words like “these concerns” must point back to a concern already named.
Opener: 3. “Since the 1990s, the security environment of South East Asia has seen both continuity and profound changes.” It opens the time-frame and announces the two themes — continuity and change — that the rest develops. Present-perfect framing makes it the natural lead.
3→1 (continuity). 1 gives the “continuity” side: “Tensions and sometimes conflict remain an issue in and between the 11 states …” The list of states grounds the region introduced in 3. So 3→1.
1→2 (the change). 2 supplies the “profound change”: “China’s rise … and its claims in the South China Sea have become an increasingly pressing security concern.” This new external pressure follows the internal tensions of 1.
2→4 (the pronoun lock). 4 begins “These concerns cause states from outside the region to take an active interest.” “These concerns” refers straight back to the “pressing security concern” of 2, so 4 must follow 2 and close the paragraph.
Sequence: 3 – 1 – 2 – 4. Frame the period (3) → internal tensions (1) → China’s rise as the new concern (2) → “these concerns” draw in outside states (4). Key in 3124.