Letter series, coding-decoding, word sums and alphabet-test questions all depend on one skill: knowing where each letter sits in the alphabet, from both ends, without counting on your fingers. Counting from A each time is slow and error-prone. A handful of anchors and one subtraction rule make every position instant.
The five letters E, J, O, T and Y fall at positions 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25, the multiples of 5. Read together they make the made-up word EJOTY, which is easy to remember. Every other letter is at most two places from one of them, so you never need to count more than two steps.
| Anchor | Position | Neighbours |
|---|---|---|
| E | 5 | C 3, D 4, F 6, G 7 |
| J | 10 | H 8, I 9, K 11, L 12 |
| O | 15 | M 13, N 14, P 16, Q 17 |
| T | 20 | R 18, S 19, U 21, V 22 |
| Y | 25 | W 23, X 24, Z 26 |
For example, R is two places before T, so it is 20 − 2 = 18.
K is one place after J, so it is 10 + 1 = 11. A and B are simply 1 and 2.
A letter's position counted from Z is its reverse position. Because the forward and reverse positions of every letter add to 27, the rule is simple:
Reverse position = 27 − forward position
The letter that sits at the same distance from the other end is called its opposite. A and Z are opposites, as are B and Y, C and X, and so on down to M and N in the middle. The 13 pairs are:
AZ, BY, CX, DW, EV, FU, GT, HS, IR, JQ, KP, LO, MN.
Some students make small memory hooks for these, such as GT for "Grand Trunk", HS for "High School" or IR for "Indian Railways". Any hook that you remember is good enough; the 27 rule always works as a check.
Worked example 1: the opposite of G
G is 7, so its opposite is at 27 − 7 = 20, which is T.
Worked example 2: 9th from the right
The 9th letter from the right is at 27 − 9 = 18 from the left, which is R.
Alphabet-test questions often chain two instructions: "the kth letter to the right of the nth letter from the left". Convert everything to a position from the left, then add for moves to the right and subtract for moves to the left.
- Convert "nth from the left" to n, and "nth from the right" to 27 − n.
- Add k for "kth to the right"; subtract k for "kth to the left".
- Turn the final number back into a letter.
Worked example 3: right of a left-count
Which letter is 8th to the right of the 12th letter from the left? 12 + 8 = 20, which is T.
Worked example 4: left of a right-count
Which letter is 5th to the left of the 10th letter from the right? The 10th from the right is at 27 − 10 = 17 (Q). Then 17 − 5 = 12, which is L.
Questions that say "if the second half of the alphabet is reversed" or "if every alternate letter is removed" are handled the same way. Rewrite the changed alphabet only as far as you need, then count from the nearest end.
The letter midway between two letters is at the average of their positions. If the average is not a whole number, there are two middle letters.
Worked example 5: midway between C and Q
C is 3 and Q is 17. The average is 10, which is J.
Word-sum codes add up the positions of the letters in a word. With EJOTY these take seconds.
Worked example 6: DOG
D is 4, O is 15 and G is 7, so DOG = 4 + 15 + 7 = 26.
- ✘ Using 26 − n for the reverse position. The rule is 27 − n.
- ✘ Mixing up "to the left of" and "from the left". The first is a move; the second is a starting count.
- ✘ Counting the starting letter as the first step when moving left or right.
- ✘ Guessing a position instead of anchoring on the nearest EJOTY letter.
Put these positions to work in letter series and coding-decoding by letter shift. More reasoning methods are listed on the study hub.
Q1. What is the position of W in the English alphabet? easy
✅ Answer: (c) 23
💡 Explanation: Y is an EJOTY anchor at 25. W is two places before Y, so its position is 25 − 2 = 23.
Q2. Which letter is 14th from the right end of the alphabet? easy
✅ Answer: (a) M
💡 Explanation: The nth letter from the right is at position 27 − n from the left. 27 − 14 = 13, which is M.
Q3. Which letter is the opposite of H, that is, at the same distance from the other end of the alphabet? easy
✅ Answer: (d) S
💡 Explanation: Opposite letters have positions that add to 27. H is 8, so its opposite is at 27 − 8 = 19, which is S.
Q4. Which letter is 6th to the right of the 15th letter from the left? medium
✅ Answer: (b) U
💡 Explanation: The 15th letter from the left is O. Moving 6 places to the right gives 15 + 6 = 21, which is U.
Q5. Which letter is 4th to the left of the 8th letter from the right? medium
✅ Answer: (a) O
💡 Explanation: The 8th letter from the right is at 27 − 8 = 19, which is S. Moving 4 places to the left gives 19 − 4 = 15, which is O.
Q6. If the alphabet is written in reverse order (Z first), what is the position of F? medium
✅ Answer: (c) 21
💡 Explanation: In the reversed alphabet a letter's position is 27 minus its normal position. F is normally 6, so it becomes 27 − 6 = 21.
Why is the reverse position 27 − n and not 26 − n?
Because both counts start at 1. A is 1st from the left and 26th from the right, and 1 + 26 = 27. Every letter's two positions add to 27, so the reverse position is 27 minus the forward one.
Do I need to memorise all 26 positions?
No. Memorise the five EJOTY anchors and count at most two places from the nearest one. With a little practice this becomes as fast as recalling the full list, and it is much harder to get wrong.
All problems and solutions on this page are original. No outside facts are relied on; every numeric answer is recomputed by software before publishing.
How this page was prepared. Drafted with AI assistance (Claude (Anthropic AI model)) from the sources listed above. 14 calculations on this page were recomputed by software and matched. Automated checks also covered structure, internal links and duplicate text. Software checks cannot confirm facts. Reviewed by praveenkumar on 2026-10-20 against the sources listed above.
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