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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.

  1. The logic of displaying one's inner qualities through outward appearance was based on a distinction between being a woman and being feminine.

2.'Appearance' became a signifier of conduct - to look was to be and conformity to the feminine ideal was measured by how well women could use the tools of the fashion and beauty industries.

  1. The makeover-centric media sets out subtly and not-so-subtly, 'good' and 'bad' ways to be a woman, layering these over inequalities of race and class.
  2. The denigration of working-class women and women of colour often centres on their perceived failure to embody feminine beauty.

5.'Woman' was considered a biological category, but femininity was a 'process' by which women became specific kinds of women.

Entered answer:

Solution

āœ… Correct Answer: 3

From passage: "The logic of displaying one's inner qualities through outward appearance was based on a distinction between being a woman and being feminine."

The core theme -> distinction between "woman" (biological) vs "femininity" (a process you perform)

Let us trace the logical flow:

  • Sentence 5 sets up the basic distinction -> woman = biological, femininity = process
  • Sentence 1 builds on this -> explains the logic of showing inner qualities through looks
  • Sentence 2 continues -> appearance became the measure of conduct and conformity
  • Sentence 4 shows consequence -> those who failed this standard (working-class women, women of color) got criticized

But sentence 3 -> talks about media's role in setting these standards


Think like this: The main story is about a concept (woman vs femininity) -> how it worked (appearance as measure) -> what happened to those who didn't meet it (denigration).

Sentence 3 shifts focus to who creates these standards (media) rather than continuing the explanation of the concept itself.


🟢 Option 3 is the odd one out -> context-shift -> while related, it moves from explaining the woman/femininity distinction and its effects to discussing who perpetuates these ideas (media), which breaks the conceptual flow of the other 4 sentences that stay focused on the distinction itself and its direct consequences.

The other 4 sentences create a clean logical sequence: definition -> logic -> mechanism -> consequence. Sentence 3 introduces a new actor (media) that doesn't fit this flow.

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