Numerical answer
The four sentences below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the correct order and key in the sequence of numbers as your answer.
1. As a result, later editions of the dictionary began silently correcting the entry, but the error had by then propagated into other reference works that had copied from the original.
2. Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary defined "lizard" partly by cross-reference to an entry that, due to a printing mistake, pointed to the wrong page entirely.
3. Lexicographers have since documented numerous such "ghost errors", mistakes that survive and multiply because later compilers trust earlier authoritative sources rather than verifying claims independently.
4. This meant that for decades, careful readers who followed the reference found themselves looking up an unrelated word, with no indication of what had gone wrong.
1. As a result, later editions of the dictionary began silently correcting the entry, but the error had by then propagated into other reference works that had copied from the original.
2. Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary defined "lizard" partly by cross-reference to an entry that, due to a printing mistake, pointed to the wrong page entirely.
3. Lexicographers have since documented numerous such "ghost errors", mistakes that survive and multiply because later compilers trust earlier authoritative sources rather than verifying claims independently.
4. This meant that for decades, careful readers who followed the reference found themselves looking up an unrelated word, with no indication of what had gone wrong.
Show answer and solution
Answer: 2413
Sentence 2 introduces the original printing mistake. Sentence 4 describes its immediate effect on readers. Sentence 1 describes the later correction and the error's continued spread elsewhere. Sentence 3 draws the general lesson about 'ghost errors'. Order: 2-4-1-3.
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