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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. To create a synapse, the neuron has specialized structures, often seen as tiny swellings, at its terminal end of the axon where it stores the chemicals that are emitted to transmit a signal to the next neuron.
  2. This fetal warm-up act-the soldering of neural connections before the eyes actually function-is crucial to the performance of the visual system.
  3. The reasons for this paring back of synapses is a mystery, but synaptic pruning is thought to sharpen and reinforce the "correct" synapses, while removing the weak and unnecessary ones.
  4. Neural connections between the eyes and the brain are formed long before birth, establishing the wiring and the circuitry that allow a child to begin visualizing the world the minute she emerges from the womb.
  5. During this rehearsal period, synapses-points of chemical connection-between nerve cells are generated in great excess, only to be pruned back during later development.

Entered answer:

Solution

āœ… Correct Answer: 1

Common thread -> Most sentences talk about fetal development and how neural connections form before birth for vision.

From passage: "Neural connections between the eyes and the brain are formed long before birth" and "This fetal warm-up act...is crucial to the performance of the visual system"

Thought process: Sentences 2, 4, 5 clearly talk about development before birth -> Sentence 3 talks about pruning process (still part of development) -> But sentence 1 talks about basic synapse structure (general biology, not development)

The theme is: Fetal neural development for vision -> Formation -> Excess creation -> Pruning


Why sentence 1 is the odd one:

šŸ”“ Sentence 1 -> scope-error -> Talks about general how synapses work (axon terminals, chemicals) but other sentences focus on when and why synapses develop before birth. It's like explaining "how a car engine works" when everyone else is discussing "how babies learn to walk."

🟢 Sentences 2, 3, 4, 5 -> All focus on the developmental timeline: before birth -> excess formation -> pruning process -> visual system readiness.

The confusion students have: "But sentence 1 mentions synapses too!" -> Yes, but it explains the mechanism, not the development process that's the real theme.

Answer: 1

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