Word Formation and Letter Arrangement Notes for SSC Exams

Word formation and letter arrangement questions give a word and ask what happens when its letters are rearranged in alphabetical order, how many letters stay in the same place or how many pairs of letters have the same gap as in the alphabet. These word formation and letter arrangement notes for SSC explain every type with a method and solved examples.

Types of Questions

Method for the Unchanged Letters

1. Write the word with positions 1, 2, 3 ... below the letters.
2. Arrange the letters in alphabetical order and write them in the same positions.
3. Compare the original and the new letters at each position.
4. Count the positions where both letters are the same.

Example 1. How many letters of the word DISCOVER remain unchanged after they are arranged in alphabetical order?
Original: D I S C O V E R. Alphabetical: C D E I O R S V. Comparing the positions: D/C, I/D, S/E, C/I, O/O, V/R, E/S, R/V. Only the 5th letter O is the same. Answer: one letter.

Method for the Letter Pairs

1. Write the letters of the word with their positions in the alphabet.
2. For every pair, count the letters between them in the word.
3. Count the letters between them in the alphabet (difference of positions − 1).
4. Count the pair if both numbers are equal.

Example 2. How many pairs of letters in the word STORM have as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet?
Take S(19), T(20), O(15), R(18), M(13). The pairs that match are: S and T (0 letters between in both), T and R (1 letter between in the word, O; and 1 letter between in the alphabet, S), and O and M (1 letter between in the word, R; and 1 letter between in the alphabet, N). Answer: 3 pairs.

Other Solved Examples

Example 3. Arrange the letters of the word PLANET in alphabetical order. Which letter is fourth from the left?
The order is A, E, L, N, P, T, and the fourth letter is N.

Example 4. If the letters of the word BRIGHT are arranged in reverse alphabetical order, which letter will be at the third place?
Reverse order: T, R, I, H, G, B. The third letter is I.

Example 5. Take the first letter of each word: Rose, Apple, Tiger. What word do they form?
R, A, T, which gives RAT. Always read the letters in the same order as the words are given.

Useful Facts

• A word of n different letters can be arranged in n! ways (for example, 3 letters in 6 ways).
• If a letter repeats, the number of arrangements is divided by the factorial of the repeat count.
• In an alphabetical rearrangement, the letters that repeat stay together.
• When the question asks for "position from the right", count from the last letter of the new word.

Common Mistakes

• Arranging the letters in the wrong order, such as putting I before H.
• Counting the position from the wrong end.
• Forgetting the repeated letters of a word.
• Using the position of the letter in the alphabet instead of its place in the word.

Quick Tips

• Always write the original word and the new word one below the other.
• Use the EJOTY trick to place the letters in the correct alphabetical order.
• For letter pairs, make a small table of the positions.
• Check the answer by counting the letters again.

Quick Revision Points

• Write positions below the letters.
• Compare the original and the new order for the unchanged letters.
• Letters between two letters = difference of positions − 1.
• Repeated letters stay together in the alphabetical order.
• A word of n different letters has n! arrangements.

Practice Questions With Answers

1. Arrange the letters of the word SOLAR alphabetically. Which letter is first?
   Answer: A
2. Arrange the letters of the word PLANET alphabetically. Which letter is last?
   Answer: T
3. If the letters of the word MOTHER are arranged alphabetically, how many letters remain in the same position?
   Answer: None. The new order is E, H, M, O, R, T, and no letter stays in its old place
4. How many different arrangements are there of the letters of the word CAT?
   Answer: 6
5. Reverse alphabetical order of the word BRAIN: which letter is second?
   Answer: N (R, N, I, B, A)
6. Which letter is the middle letter of the word ORANGE after alphabetical arrangement? (A, E, G, N, O, R)
   Answer: G and N (the third and fourth letters)
7. In the word LATE, how many letters are vowels?
   Answer: 2
8. How many pairs of adjacent letters in the word FRIEND are also adjacent in the alphabet? (check E-F, D-E)
   Answer: 0 (none of the adjacent pairs in FRIEND are neighbours in the alphabet)
9. The letters of the word DEAR are arranged alphabetically. Which letter is the third?
   Answer: D (A, D, E, R)
10. What is the formula for the letters between two letters?
    Answer: Difference of positions minus 1

How to Practise This Chapter

Practise ten questions daily and always write the positions of the letters below them. Then attempt timed sets from our practice papers and the previous year papers page. See all topics on the Verbal Reasoning notes page, and also read the Coding-Decoding and Reasoning notes. Read the previous topic, Alphabet Test, and the next topic, Dictionary Order and Word Arrangement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a word formation question in reasoning?

It is a question in which the letters of a word are rearranged, counted or compared to find a result.

How do I find unchanged letters after rearrangement?

Write the original and the alphabetical order below each other and count the positions where the letters are the same.

How do I find letter pairs with the same gap?

Count the letters between the pair in the word and in the alphabet, and count the pair if both are equal.

What is alphabetical order?

Alphabetical order is the order A, B, C and so on to Z.

What is reverse alphabetical order?

It is the order Z, Y, X and so on to A.

How many ways can the letters of a word be arranged?

A word with n different letters can be arranged in n factorial ways, divided by the factorials of repeated letters.

How do I count the letters between two letters?

Subtract the smaller position from the larger position and subtract 1.

Is this topic asked in SSC exams?

Yes. Word and letter arrangement questions are asked in SSC reasoning papers.

How much time should I take for one question?

About 30 to 40 seconds.

What are common mistakes?

Wrong alphabetical order and counting from the wrong end of the word.

Do repeated letters change the method?

No. They stay together in alphabetical order, but count each letter as a separate place.

How many questions come from this topic in SSC exams?

Usually one or two, but the number changes from year to year.