Explanation:

Here’s how I’d break this down for you—cutting right to the heart of the question:

- Let’s look at the machine’s pattern in the example. Every odd step, the largest word (alphabetically) is moved to the front; every even step, the smallest number is pushed to the end. Alternates until all elements are placed.

- Here’s your input:

81 Reverse 68 Dance 35 57 Length Yielding 93 42 Progress Easily

Let’s walk through the steps:

Step I (largest word goes front):

- Highest word alphabetically is Yielding.

- So,

Yielding 81 Reverse 68 Dance 35 57 Length 93 42 Progress Easily

Step II (smallest number goes end):

- Numbers in input: 81, 68, 35, 57, 93, 42

- Smallest is 35. Placed at end of list, rest as is:

Yielding 81 Reverse 68 Dance 57 Length 93 42 Progress Easily 35

Step III (next-largest word in list goes front):

- From: Yielding 81 Reverse 68 Dance 57 Length 93 42 Progress Easily

- (Except "Yielding" already fixed.)

- Highest is "Reverse".

- So: Reverse Yielding 81 68 Dance 57 Length 93 42 Progress Easily 35

Step IV (next-smallest number at end):

- Remaining numbers: 81, 68, 57, 93, 42

- Smallest is 42.

- So: Reverse Yielding 81 68 Dance 57 Length 93 Progress Easily 35 42

Step V (next-largest word):

- Remaining words: Progress, Easily, Length, Dance

- Highest = Progress.

- So: Progress Reverse Yielding 81 68 Dance 57 Length 93 Easily 35 42

And there you go: in step V, fifth element from the left is 68.

Here are your options:

- 1, 81

- 2, Length

- 3, Yielding

- 4, 42

- 5, Progress

Here’s what this means:

- The fifth element in step V is 68, not Yielding.

The correct answer is none of the options above (but if you had to choose, closest by position would be 1, 81, since that's where 68 lands in position 5).

To recap, the actual fifth element in Step V is 68, not Yielding.

- The rule is alternate biggest word front, smallest number end.

- Track placements step by step, don’t skip.

- "Yielding" is first in step I, not fifth in step V.