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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. Ocean plastic is problematic for a number of reasons, but primarily because marine animals eat it.
  2. The largest numerical proportion of ocean plastic falls in small size fractions.
  3. Aside from clogging up the digestive tracts of marine life, plastic also tends to adsorb pollutants from the water column.
  4. Plastic in the oceans is arguably one of the most important and pervasive environmental problems today.
  5. 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

βœ… Correct Answer: 2

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

🟒 Sentence 4 -> Introduces ocean plastic as a major problem (perfect opener)

🟒 Sentence 1 -> Explains why it's problematic (marine animals eat it)

🟒 Sentence 5 -> Details about what happens when animals eat plastic

🟒 Sentence 3 -> Adds another problem (plastic absorbs pollutants)

πŸ”΄ 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

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