Alphabetical Arrangements

The principle of alphabetical arrangements is a very important topic for reasoning skills, although it could be mastered post consistent practice and is quite easy to understand. In a nutshell, as we know reasoning is a skill that can be acquired and enhanced over time with considerable effort. There could be various types of problems that could be covered under the topic of alphabetical arrangements, to name a few we have a series of alphabets problems, letter gap problems, word formation problems and date arrangement problems. This makes one excited to know exactly what is Alphabetical arrangement? 

What is an Alphabetical arrangement?

Nowadays if one wants almost any kind of job one has to undergo competitive exams as a part of the selection process. The most crucial part of any competitive exam is the reasoning section, this could be a deciding factor whether the candidate makes it or breaks it. There is a huge list of topics that fall under the reasoning section, we will focus on the topic of Alphabetical arrangements as an adequate number of questions are asked from this topic making it a crucial topic.

As the topic itself suggests it is the chronological order of the alphabets, it may be ascending or descending according to English vocabulary.

For example.

1. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ as the forward order of alphabets in English vocabulary.
2. ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA as the backward order of alphabets in English vocabulary.

Types of Alphabetical arrangements

Although the types of alphabetical, arrangements could be many but we would deduce them to mainly five types, which are:

• Series alphabets problem

If we talk about rules well, there isn’t one that means such problems seldom follow any set of rules and could be mastered only by practice. Let us understand by the following example problem,

1. Which is the eighth to the left of the 15th letter from left amongst the forward series of English alphabets? Choose the correct answer
2. a) M
3. b) L
4. c) H
5. d) S

To solve such problems first we have to find which is the 15th letter from the left in forward series

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O, therefore O is the 15th letter and 8th letter to its left will be: O N M L K J I H, hence H is the correct answer which is option no. C. 

• Calendar problems

In problems related to calendar, we need to find out the right date which lies in the series in chronological order.

It is better to take up an example such as,

1. find out the missing date and choose the correct answer for the following series,

      12th April, __________, 14th December, 13th February, 19th march 

1. a)  17th November
2. b) 4th October
3. c) 3rd august
4. d) 19th January

in such problems where we have to choose amongst the option which are no longer from the same month so the numbers of dates become irrelevant and our main focus is on the alphabetical order of the months as April comes first because it starts with “a” then the following date shall be from a to d and our only option in that scenario is option C 3rd august

• Letter gap problems

Such problems are IQ based which means how fast you read the pattern and crack it 

For example

1. In the word ‘PRIEST’, how many pairs of the letters consist the same number of letters between them as in alphabetical series?
2. a) 1
3. b) 3
4. c) 2 
5. d) 0

Here as we can see only the letters S and T are the letters that have no letter in between as in the word PRIEST and also in the alphabetical series, hence option n. a) 1 is the correct answer

• Word formation problems

To be able to solve such questions one should have a good grasp of English vocabulary and also these questions need more hard work and practice than any other set of questions and could be tricky at times.

             for example,

1. if a place name is formed by rearranging the letters of the word NURDEDAH, what would be its fifth letter
2. a) D
3. b) E
4. c) A
5. d) N

when we rearrange the word, we get DEHRADUN as the place suggested in the question and the fifth letter of the place name DEHRADUN is A, hence the correct answer is option c) A

• Words problems, alphabetical arrangements

These problems are solved with the basic rule of arranging the words as in a dictionary(alphabetically).

Sample problem

Arrange the below-given words in alphabetical order as per the English dictionary

1. a) vision
2. b) groom
3. c) fighter
4. d) business

according to the first letters of the words, the order of the first letters will be B,F, G and V

therefore, the correct answer would be business, fighter, groom and vision. Further, if the two words would have started from the same letter than their order would be determined by the position of their next alphabet and so on.

Conclusion

The topic of alphabetical arrangements has looked into what are alphabetical arrangements and its various applications in several reasoning problems. Moreover, it has looked into the types of alphabetical arrangements, in great detail. The sample problems related to alphabetical arrangements have been discussed under the topic for better understanding of the students and to foster interest towards the topic. The FAQs section attempts to address the most probable queries that might arise. The FAQs section provides additional information which will aid a better understanding of the topic.