Question: The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Tensions and sometimes conflict remain an issue in and between the 11 states in South East Asia (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam).
2. China’s rise as a regional military power and its claims in the South China Sea have become an increasingly pressing security concern for many South East Asian states.
3. Since the 1990s, the security environment of South East Asia has seen both continuity and profound changes.
4. These concerns cause states from outside the region to take an active interest in South East Asian security.
In this question, it is easy for us to spot the opening sentence. It brings the action from the past (1990s) into the present. For this reason, 3 is in the present perfect continuous form, and 1 is in the simple present form. Thus 31 form a pair. 4 has the pronoun “these concerns”. It refers to the noun “pressing security concern” in 2. Thus 24 form a pair. The right sequence has to be 3124.