Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
- Ocean plastic is problematic for a number of reasons, but primarily because marine animals eat it.
- The largest numerical proportion of ocean plastic falls in small size fractions.
- Aside from clogging up the digestive tracts of marine life, plastic also tends to adsorb pollutants from the water column.
- Plastic in the oceans is arguably one of the most important and pervasive environmental problems today.
- Eating plastic has a number of negative consequences such as the retention of plastic particles in the gut for longer periods than normal food particles.
Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
- Ocean plastic is problematic for a number of reasons, but primarily because marine animals eat it.
- The largest numerical proportion of ocean plastic falls in small size fractions.
- Aside from clogging up the digestive tracts of marine life, plastic also tends to adsorb pollutants from the water column.
- Plastic in the oceans is arguably one of the most important and pervasive environmental problems today.
- Eating plastic has a number of negative consequences such as the retention of plastic particles in the gut for longer periods than normal food particles.
Entered answer:
Solution
First, let us identify the main theme -> Most sentences talk about how plastic harms marine animals (sentences 1, 3, 4, 5). But sentence 2 talks about size of plastic pieces.
Step-by-step elimination:
- Find sentences that connect logically -> 4 introduces the problem -> 1 explains why it's bad -> 5 gives details about eating plastic -> 3 adds more harm
- Look for the outsider topic -> Sentence 2 talks about "numerical proportion" and "size fractions" which doesn't connect to the animal harm theme
The logical flow should be: Problem introduction -> Why it's bad -> Details of harm -> More harm
π’ Sentence 4 -> Introduces ocean plastic as a major problem (perfect opener)
π’ Sentence 1 -> Explains why it's problematic (marine animals eat it)
π’ Sentence 5 -> Details about what happens when animals eat plastic
π’ Sentence 3 -> Adds another problem (plastic absorbs pollutants)
π΄ Sentence 2 -> Talks about size and numbers of plastic pieces, not about harm to animals
Why sentence 2 is the odd one: While other sentences form a cause-and-effect chain about plastic harming marine life, sentence 2 shifts to talking about measurements and statistics of plastic size. It's like having four sentences about "why candy is bad for teeth" and one about "how much candy weighs" - different focus entirely.
Answer: 2