Five letter blocks with backward starting steps – UGC NET Question

Every term is a block of five consecutive letters, but the starting letter moves backward by three positions from one group to the next. The starting letters T, Q, N and K are at positions 20, 17, 14 and 11, each time decreasing by three. The next starting letter should be at position 8, which is H, and the five consecutive letters from H are H, I, J, K and L. Therefore HIJKL is the correct next term.

Option A:
Option A, FGHIJ, is a valid five letter consecutive block but starts at F, which is two positions before H. This would correspond to a backward step of five from K instead of the observed step of three. Since the series has a constant backward movement of three, FGHIJ does not follow the pattern.

Option B:
Option B, GHIJK, begins at G, which is position 7 and does not arise from moving K back by three positions. As a result, GHIJK is not consistent with the rule governing the series.

Option C:
Option C, JKLMN, moves the starting letter forward from K instead of backward. This reverses the direction of progression and ignores the clear pattern of stepping left through the alphabet. Therefore JKLMN cannot be accepted as the next term.

Option D:
Option D is correct because H is exactly three positions before K, matching the backward step size seen throughout the series. HIJKL also maintains the internal requirement that each group consist of five consecutive letters. This dual consistency makes HIJKL the only suitable continuation.