Which one of the sentence sequences in the given options creates a coherent narrative? i. I could not bring myself to knock. ii. There was a murmur of unfamiliar voices coming from the big drawing room and the door was firmly shut. iii. The passage was dark for a bit, but then it suddenly opened into a bright kitchen. iv. I decided I would rather wander down the passage. A. (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) B. (ii), (i), (iv), (iii) C. (ii), (i), (iii), (iv) D. (i), (iii), (ii), (iv)

GATE 2023 · General Aptitude · Sentence Ordering · medium

Answer: Option C — the sequence (ii), (i), (iv), (iii) creates a coherent narrative: the narrator observes a shut door with voices (ii), cannot bring themselves to knock (i), decides to wander down the passage instead (iv), and discovers the passage leads to a bright kitchen (iii).

1. Identify the opening sentence: Sentence ii introduces the setting with a murmur of unfamiliar voices and a firmly shut door. This is an independent establishing clause that requires no prior context, making it the natural first sentence.
2. Place sentence i after ii: Sentence i ('I could not bring myself to knock') is a direct reaction to the situation in ii. The implicit cause is the firmly shut door and the unfamiliar voices — you would not knock on a firmly shut door filled with strangers. So i follows ii.
3. Place sentence iv before iii: Sentence iv ('I decided I would rather wander down the passage') introduces the passage for the first time. Sentence iii refers back to 'the passage' with a definite article, meaning iii must come AFTER iv (the passage is already known to the reader). So the order is iv then iii.
4. Assemble the full sequence: Full sequence: ii (scene set) -> i (narrator's reaction) -> iv (decides to wander down passage) -> iii (passage dark, opens into kitchen). This matches option C: (ii), (i), (iv), (iii).