Quick Revision for Part A: Mastering Alphabet Series!!! (Download PDF)

Hi Aspirants,

With only a few days left for CSIR NET 2021 exam, you should devote all your time in revising your concepts and topics. Practice as many mocks as you can to work on your speed and accuracy. At this high time, you should practice a lot of questions of those topics which have high chances of being asked in the exam. Alphabet Series is one of the important and most scoring topics of the General Aptitude (Part A) through which one can score full marks in this section.

To help you in your preparation, we have come up with the concept of the Alphabet Series for the upcoming exam CSIR-NET 2021. Scroll down the article below and learn this concept to crack the exam.

Concept of Alphabet Series

The questions are usually based on the place of the English letter and with reference to their position we find out the logic behind and solve the question.

This type of question varies on the arrangement of alphabetical order. It can be Backward, first half backward, second half backward, multiple letter segments in changed order etc. Some of the questions asked are based on finding the middle letter of two specified letters and in some questions it is asked which letters do not change their place after alphabet arrangement. So, the detailed explanation with examples is as follow:

1. Place a letter in a forwarding order

In this type of question, the exact letter has to be found out with the help of the direction of place given in the question. The example discussed below will give you a better idea about this type of question.

Ex 1: Find the 11th letter to the left of the 20th letter from the left in the English alphabet.

(a) D

(b) J

(d) I

Solution: (d)

Let us see

Hence, the 11th letter to the left of the 20th letter from the left is I.

Alternate Method

In the English alphabet 11th letter to the left of 20th letter of your left =(20-11) the letter from the left=9th letter from the left =I

2. Place Of Letter in Completely Backward Order

In such questions, the order of letters is completely reversed or they are counted from Z to A and then the place of the letter is asked with the help of direction.

Ex 2: If the English alphabet is written in backward order, then what will be the 13th letter to the left of the 3rd letter from the right?

(a) P

(b) N

(d) Q

Solution: (a)

Backward order is written as

Now, the 13th letter to the left of the 3rd letter from the right is P.

Alternate Method

In the backward order of the alphabet, the 13th letter to the left of the 3rd letter of your right =(3+13)the letter from right =16th letter from right P.

3. Place of a Letter When First Half is in Backward Order

In such a type of question, only the 1st half of the order of alphabetical series is reversed and the remaining are left unaltered i.e., the order of A to M is reversed and then questions related to the position of the latter are asked.

Ex 3: If the 1st half of the English alphabet is written in backward order, then what will be the 7th letter to the left and the 10th letter from your right?

(a) C

(b) E

(d) J

Solution: (c)

Let us see

The 7th letter to the left of the 10th letter from our right is D.

4. Place of a Letter When Second Half is in Backward Order

In such types of questions, the 2nd half is reversed i.e., from N to Z and the remaining are kept as it is and then questions related to a place of the English alphabet are asked.

Ex 4: If 2nd half of the English alphabet is written in backward order, then what will be the 7th letter to the right of the 13th letter from your left?

(a) T

(b) U

(d) S

Solution: (a)

Let us see

The 7th letter to the right of the 13th letter from our left is T.

5. Multiple Letter Segment in Backward Order

In such types of questions, no specified order of change is followed in alphabetical order. They are changed according to the condition given in the particular question.

Ex 5: If the first four letters of the English alphabet are written in reverse order; again next 5 letters are written in reverse order; again next 6 letters are written in reverse order; next 7 letters are written in reverse order and finally, the remaining letters are also written in reverse order, then what will be the 7th letter to the left of the 8th letter from right?

(a)M

(b) N

(d) L

Solution: (a)

Let us see the arrangement

The 7th letter to the 8thth letter from right is M.

6. Number of Letter in the Middle of Two Letters

In this particular type, the question asked to calculate the total number of English letters between any two specific letters as directed in the question.

Four situations can be created under these types of problems

Ex 6: How many letters are there between the 8th letter from left and the 7th letter right in the English alphabet?

(a) 7

(b) 11

(d) 9

Solution: (b)

Let us see

There are 11th letters between the 8th letter from the left and the 7th letter from the right.

Alternate Method

Total number of letters in the English alphabet =26

Required number of letters =26-(8+7) =11

7. Middle Letter between Two letters

In these types of questions, it is asked to find the middle letter of the two specified letters of the English alphabet.

Ex 7: Which letter is in the middle of the 7th letter from the left and 10th letter from the right in the English alphabet?

(a) L

(b) P

(d) Q

Solution: (a)

Let us see

Letters between G and Q is L.

Alternate Method

10th letter from right =27-10 =17th letter from left.

Required middle letter =7+(17-7)/2 =24/2 =12th letter from left =L

8. Same Position of Alphabet after Arranging Alphabetically

In this type of question, a word is given and then asked how many letters remain the same in their position, if they are arranged in alphabetical order.

Ex 8: How many such letters are there in the word ‘CADMP’ which remain the same in their position if they are arranged in alphabetical order?

(a) One

(b) Two

(d) Four

Solution: (c)

So, such type of letters are D, M and P.

9. Arranging the letters of the word

Ex 9: Arrange the following words in a natural way and find the odd one out.

(A) ELMSL

(B) ERHA

(D) SAETE

Ans. B

Solution –

On arranging the given words we get-

(A) SMELL

(B) HEAR/HARE

(D) TEASE

Here, only ERHA gives two meaningful words on the arrangement of its letters.

Hence, the correct answer is an option (C).

10. Pair of alphabets –

Ex 10: How many such pairs of letters are there in the word CRYING each of which has as many letters between them in the word as in the English alphabet?

(a) None

(b) One

(d) Three

Ans. B

Solution –

Only one pair we see from the backward, no pair from forward.

Hence, the correct answer is option B.

11. Position of letters interchanged –

Ex 11: The positions of the first and the tenth letters of the word MICROPHONE are interchanged, similarly, the positions of the second and ninth letters and the third and eighth letters and fourth and seventh letters and fifth and sixth letters are interchanged. In the new arrangement thus formed, how many alphabets are there between the fourth letter from the left and the letter third from the right end?

(A) 3

(B) 1

(D) More than 3

Ans. A

Solution –

In this question, we show that –

Thus the alphabet between the fourth letter from left means H and the third letter from the right means C is three (P, O, R).

So the correct answer is option A.

12. Meaningful word formation: This type of question is based on your good command of your words. some letters are taken out from a letter & the Meaningful word is formed using OR. Now the meaningful word is formed from the letters given below.The correct words can be made when we have a good knowledge about the words.

Example. Using 1st, 7th, 8th & 10th letters of the word ‘ADJUSTMENT’ if a meaningful word is formed, which would be the last letter of that word ? If more than one meaningful word is formed, give the answer O & if not a single meaningful word is found, give the answer X.

(A) O

(B) K

(D) P

Answer is O