Numerical answer
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) given below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper order and key in the sequence of four numbers as your answer.
1. These boxes could then be lifted by crane from truck to ship to train without ever being opened.
2. The resulting fall in shipping costs was so dramatic that it reshaped where things are made, making globally dispersed supply chains economically viable.
3. Before the 1950s, loading a cargo ship was a labour-intensive affair, with dockworkers handling sacks, barrels and crates one at a time.
4. Malcolm McLean, a trucking entrepreneur, realised that much of this effort could be avoided if goods were packed once, at the factory, into standard steel boxes.
1. These boxes could then be lifted by crane from truck to ship to train without ever being opened.
2. The resulting fall in shipping costs was so dramatic that it reshaped where things are made, making globally dispersed supply chains economically viable.
3. Before the 1950s, loading a cargo ship was a labour-intensive affair, with dockworkers handling sacks, barrels and crates one at a time.
4. Malcolm McLean, a trucking entrepreneur, realised that much of this effort could be avoided if goods were packed once, at the factory, into standard steel boxes.
Show answer and solution
Answer: 3412
3 opens the paragraph: it describes the situation before the change and needs no earlier context.
4 follows: 'much of this effort' refers back to the labour-intensive loading in 3, and it introduces the 'standard steel boxes'.
1 comes next: 'These boxes' can only refer to the boxes introduced in 4.
2 concludes: 'The resulting fall in shipping costs' is the result of the system described in 4–1, and it widens the point to global supply chains.
Order: 3-4-1-2.
Tip: Demonstratives such as 'these boxes' and 'this effort' are the strongest links in a jumble. Find what they point back to.
4 follows: 'much of this effort' refers back to the labour-intensive loading in 3, and it introduces the 'standard steel boxes'.
1 comes next: 'These boxes' can only refer to the boxes introduced in 4.
2 concludes: 'The resulting fall in shipping costs' is the result of the system described in 4–1, and it widens the point to global supply chains.
Order: 3-4-1-2.
Tip: Demonstratives such as 'these boxes' and 'this effort' are the strongest links in a jumble. Find what they point back to.
Saved on this device. Sign in or create a free account to keep it on every device.