Answer to HSK Quiz: Put the Chinese sentences in order!

Correct Answer: C

Answer analysis:

   Zuótiān, wǒ zài shāngchǎng kàn zhòng le yí jiàn piàoliang de dàyī.
3. 昨天，    我 在        商场        看   中     了 一 件    漂亮     的  大衣。
   Yesterday, I look a fancy to a pretty overcoat in the market.

   Běnlái xiǎng mǎi, dànshì qián bú gòu.
2. 本来      想    买，但是    钱   不 够。
   At first I wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have enough money.

   Jīntiān zài qù de shí hòu ，fāxiàn yǐjīng mài chū qù le.
1. 今天     再 去 的  时 候，   发现   已经  卖    出  去 了。
   Today when I went back, I discovered it had already been bought.

A. Time:
“昨天 (Zuótiān) yesterday” should be before “今天 (Jīntiān) today” according to the timeline, so sentence 3 should be in front of sentence 1.

B. Series of Events:
Sentence 3 and sentence 2:
You can figure out the order according to the way things developed. The person first would “ 看中大衣 (kànzhòng dà yī) take a fancy to an overcoat” as in sentence 3. Then, they would think about buying it as in sentence 2. So, sentence 3 should be in front of sentence 2.

Sentence 2 and sentence 1:
You know that sentence 2 and 3 do not go first because of the words included in them. Sentence 2 has “想买 (xiǎng mǎi)” so you know that the person wants to buy something, but the person didn’t buy it because of “钱不够 (qián bú gòu) not enough money.” He went there again to buy the “大衣 (dà yī) overcoat,” but it was already sold out. You will see the reasoning “钱不够 (qián bú gòu) not enough money” in sentence 2 results in “卖出去 (mài chū qù) sold out” in sentence 1. Therefore, sentence 2 should be put in front of sentence 1.

So the correct sentence order should be: 3-2-1 according to the timeline and the series of events.

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