Which of the following series of words is in alphabetical order?
A. ghostly, grimace, guzzle, gripe, gown
B. helmet, hourly, hackney, holster, hillbilly
C. mayhem, medieval, mercenary, mildew, moron
D. illusion, illogical, intuition, interpret, identity
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
The correct answer is B. helmet, hourly, hackney, holster, hillbilly.
Explanation:
To determine if a series of words is in alphabetical order, we must compare the words one by one based on the first letter, then the second letter, and so on, in the same way we would look them up in a dictionary.
Let’s analyze each option:
Option A: ghostly, grimace, guzzle, gripe, gown
- ghostly comes before grimace because “gh” comes before “gr”.
- grimace comes before guzzle because “gr” comes before “gu”.
- guzzle comes before gripe because “g” comes before “g” but the second letter “u” is after “i”.
- gripe comes before gown because “gri” comes before “go”.
- This sequence is not in alphabetical order.
Option B: helmet, hourly, hackney, holster, hillbilly
- helmet comes before hourly because “he” comes before “ho”.
- hourly comes before hackney because “ho” comes before “ha”.
- hackney comes before holster because “ha” comes before “ho”.
- holster comes before hillbilly because “ho” comes before “hi”.
- **This sequence *is* in alphabetical order.**
Option C: mayhem, medieval, mercenary, mildew, moron
- mayhem comes before medieval because “ma” comes before “me”.
- medieval comes before mercenary because “me” comes before “me” but “d” comes before “r”.
- mercenary comes before mildew because “m” comes before “m”.
- mildew comes before moron because “mi” comes before “mo”.
- This sequence is not in alphabetical order.
Option D: illusion, illogical, intuition, interpret, identity
- illusion comes before illogical because “il” comes before “il”, but “l” comes before “g”.
- illogical comes before intuition because “il” comes before “in”.
- intuition comes before interpret because “in” comes before “in”, but “t” comes before “r”.
- interpret comes before identity because “in” comes before “id”.
- This sequence is not in alphabetical order.
Thus, the only option that is in alphabetical order is Option B.