If caught in the act, they were punished, not for the crime

The sentences given in below question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences from among the four given choices to construct a coherent paragraph.

  • A. If caught in the act, they were punished, not for the crime, but for allowing themselves to be caught another lash of the whip.
  • B. The bellicose Spartans sacrificed all the finer things in life for military expertise.
  • C. Those fortunate enough to survive babyhood were taken away from their mothers at the age of seven to undergo rigorous military training.
  • D. This consisted mainly of beatings and deprivations of all kinds like going around barefoot in winter, and worse, starvation so that they would be forced to steal food to survive.
  • E. Male children were examined at birth by the city council and those deemed too weak to become soldiers were left to die of exposure.
  1. ECDAB
  2. BCDAE
  3. BECDA
  4. ECADB

Solution

EC is the mandatory pair, as ‘those’ in C refers to male children in E.

B opens the paragraph as it introduces ‘Bellicose spartans’.

‘military training’ in C is described in D and A.

The correct option is C.