Directions: Arrange the following words in alphabetical order as they would appear in a dictionary.

1. Police
2. Pollen
3. Polish
4. Post
5. Poster

The correct answer is 1, 3, 2, 4, 5.

To arrange the given words in alphabetical order as they would appear in a standard dictionary, we compare them letter by letter from left to right.

The given list of words is:
1. Police
2. Pollen
3. Polish
4. Post
5. Poster

Step 1: Compare the first and second letters of all words.
All five words start with the prefix "Po-". Since the first two letters are identical across all words, we move to the third letter.

Step 2: Compare the third letter.
- Police, Pollen, and Polish have the third letter 'l'.
- Post and Poster have the third letter 's'.
In English alphabetical order, 'l' comes before 's'. Therefore, the group {Police, Polish, Pollen} comes before {Post, Poster}.

Step 3: Arrange Police, Polish, and Pollen among themselves.
- Looking at the fourth letter:
  • Police (Police) → 4th letter is 'i'
  • Polish (Polish) → 4th letter is 'i'
  • Pollen (Pollen) → 4th letter is 'l'
Since 'i' comes before 'l', Police and Polish come before Pollen. Thus, Pollen (2) will be 3rd in the overall list.
- Next, compare the fifth letter of Police and Polish:
  • Police (Police) → 5th letter is 'c'
  • Polish (Polish) → 5th letter is 's'
Since 'c' comes before 's', Police (1) comes 1st, followed by Polish (3) in 2nd place.

Step 4: Arrange Post and Poster.
- Both words start with the exact same four-letter sequence "Post".
- Post (4) ends after 4 letters, while Poster (5) has additional letters (-er).
In dictionary order, a shorter word that forms the exact prefix of a longer word always appears first. Thus, Post (4) comes before Poster (5).

Final Alphabetical Order:
1. Police (1)
2. Polish (3)
3. Pollen (2)
4. Post (4)
5. Poster (5)

Hence, the correct sequence of numbers is 1, 3, 2, 4, 5.