Question

If Ratan would have exchanged seats with a person four places to his left, which of the following would have been true after the exchange?
I. No one was seated between two persons of the opposite sex. (e.g., no man was seated between two women)
II. One side of the table consisted entirely of persons of the same sex.
III. Either the host or the hostess changed seats.

• A. I only
• B. II only
• C. I and II only
• D. II and III only

Hint:

When a question involves a “move X places” scenario in seating arrangements, always consider both positional shift and gender distribution impact.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Let us reconstruct the logic step-by-step:
1. In the original arrangement, seating was made so that each person had at least one neighbour of the opposite sex, ensuring a gender mix along both sides of the table.
2. Moving a person four seats to the left around a rectangular table changes their side and may also change their position relative to the host or hostess.
3. In this scenario, when Ratan moves four places to his left, the seat swap causes **one full side of the table** to now have all persons of the same sex — this satisfies statement II.
4. Because the change involves such a significant shift in seating, either the host or the hostess ends up changing seats to maintain the basic alternating gender requirement in other spots — satisfying statement III.
5. However, statement I is no longer valid after the exchange. The swap disrupts the original careful arrangement and now some individuals are seated between two people of the opposite sex, breaking the original alternation pattern.
Thus, statements II and III remain true after the exchange, making the correct answer (d).