Q.Match the following and choose the correct option.
Column I: A. Touch B. Smell C. Cranial nerves D. Medulla oblongata
Column II: i. Nasal epithelium ii. Foramen magnum iii. Sensory papillae iv. Peripheral nervous system

Matching each structure/term to its function or association:

• Touch is sensed via sensory papillae on the body surface.
• Smell is detected by the nasal epithelium lining the nasal passages.
• Cranial nerves are part of the peripheral nervous system, carrying signals to and from the brain.
• The medulla oblongata, the hindmost part of the brain, lies close to and is associated with the foramen magnum, the opening through which the brain connects to the spinal cord.

So A (touch) matches iii, B (smell) matches i, C (cranial nerves) matches iv, and D (medulla oblongata) matches ii.

Sensory and nervous structures can each be tied to a specific site or category of function. Touch is picked up at the body surface by small sensory papillae, specialised receptor-bearing structures that respond to physical contact. Smell, by contrast, depends on a patch of specialised lining, the nasal epithelium, inside the nasal passages, which contains the receptor cells for detecting odour molecules.

Moving to the nervous system's organisation, the cranial nerves are the nerves that arise directly from the brain and, together with the spinal nerves, make up the peripheral nervous system — the part of the nervous system lying outside the brain and spinal cord. Finally, the medulla oblongata is the lowermost part of the hindbrain, continuous with the spinal cord, and it lies at the level of the foramen magnum, the large opening at the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes out of the cranium.

Method: Deriving the match first, then locating it in the printed options — and double-checking the letter

For match-the-column MCQs, the safest technique is to work out the correct pairing independently from what you know about each term, write it out in full (A-?, B-?, C-?, D-?), and only THEN scan the four printed options to find which letter it corresponds to. Never skip straight to "this looks like option (a)" from memory or a half-formed guess — always character-by-character compare your derived sequence against each option's four pairings before naming a letter.

Here, touch pairs with sensory papillae (the actual receptor structures for touch), smell pairs with the nasal epithelium (where smell receptors sit), cranial nerves pair with the peripheral nervous system (the broader category cranial nerves belong to), and the medulla oblongata pairs with the foramen magnum (the skull opening it sits beside). Once you have that four-pair sequence fixed, line it up against the options one at a time rather than trusting a remembered letter — this final verification step is exactly what prevents a correct derivation from being reported under the wrong option letter.