Question

Rearrange the words to make a meaningful sentence:
could / accident / few / unhurt / from / escape / the / fire.

• A. Few could escape unhurt from the fire accident.
• B. From the fire accident few could escape unhurt.
• C. The fire accident few could escape unhurt from.
• D. Unhurt escape could few from the fire accident.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Few could escape unhurt from the fire accident.

The basic order of words in a sentence is: subject + verb + object.
A sentence may not contain an object, depending on the verb. Transitive verbs like 'appear', 'die', etc do not require objects.
To this basic structure, different elements can be added. For example, noun phrases, adjective phrases, subject complements, types of clauses and so on.
Option A: The structure in this sentence complies with the basic structure:
subject (Few) + modal verb (could) + main verb (escape) + subject complement (unhurt) + prepositional phrase (from the fire accident).
Hence A is correct.
Option B: Usually, the prepositional phrase does not precede the subject. Hence this order isn't quite right.
Option C: Similarly, the order of words here isn't correct either. The preposition 'from' is separated from the rest of the phrase 'the fire accident'.
Option D: The order is a jumble of words which do not form a coherent meaning.
Hence options B, C and D are incorrect.