What is “Odd Sentence Out”?
In odd sentence out type of questions, you will be given a Para jumble with out of context sentences. You have to find the one that the misfit sentence with respect to the theme or the context. Here are some tips to identify the out of context sentence easily.
Tips for attempting Odd Sentence Out questions:
1) Find the common subject:
To identify the misfit sentence, you need to understand the overall context first. To grasp the overall context, try finding the common subject among all the sentences. The one sentence that doesn’t share that common subject with other sentences is your answer. Consider the example given below:
In the question given below, there are five statements marked A-E. All the statements except one belong to the same context. Find the odd one out and mark the correct answer from the given options.
- Tagore was a social phenomenon of his time and his universal aspirations took him around the globe.
- Tagore knew no geographical boundaries, and believed in universalism.
- Tagore’s universal appeal has its gripping hold even today.
- J.K Rowling’s books gained world attention, won multiple awards sold more than 400 million copies only because of her innovative and catchy ideas for a book.
- His book of poems, Gitanjali, which got him the Nobel Prize, has the soul and spirit of India, and yet it bears a universal appeal.
Solution: The common subjects in statements A, B, C and E is Rabindranath Tagore, his greatness and ideologies. Statement D is an exception which talks about J.K. Rowling. Thus option 4 is the odd one out.
2) Identify the common theme/general idea:
Try to identify the theme or the general idea around which the passage revolves. The general idea of the passage may appear to be the same in all the sentences. In such case, the difference may lie in the context in which the general idea is being talked about.
Let’s say that all the sentences of the question speak about apples. However, there may be a case where one of them talks about apple farming and the rest talk about the processes involved in exporting them to different countries. Have a look at the example given below:
In the question given below, there are five statements marked A-E. All the statements except one belong to the same context. Find the odd one out and mark the correct answer from the given options.
A. Since our economy is heavily dependent on cash, demonetisation has caused a lot of problems and imbalance in the functioning of the nation.
B. The effects are more severe as only less than half the population uses banking system for monetary transactions.
C. The aim of demonetisation was to free the society of black money and make the terrorists powerless who had entered our country.
D. Demonetisation has hit trade and consumption hard and has severely affected the wages and income of huge masses of people.
E. With people scrambling for cash to pay for goods and services, the move is likely to take a big toll on the country’s growth and output during the current fiscal.
Solution: All the sentences except C talk about the negative impacts of demonetisation and how people have been affected badly due to this decision and how the economy has suffered a setback. Sentence C, on the other hand talks about the aim of demonetization. Thus option 3 is the correct answer as statement C is out of context.
3) The Homonym-rule:
At times, homonyms or similar sounding words may help you identify the correct answer:
In the question given below, there are five statements marked A-E. All the statements except one belong to the same context. Find the odd one out and mark the correct answer from the given options.
A. The 11 Principles of Effective Character Education are the cornerstone of philosophy on effective character education.
B. Each principle outlines vital aspects of character education initiatives that should not be overlooked in program implementation.
C. A principal needs to possess a leadership quality in order to enhance the education quality at school.
D. From curriculum integration to extra-curricular activities, from parent and community partnerships to staff development, the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education offer fundamental guidance for educators and community leaders to maximize their character education outcomes.
E. This document serves as an excellent outline for program planning and can easily be integrated into staff development and self-evaluation.
Solution: Note that statements A, B, D and E are concerned with ‘principles’ (‘theories’/’ideas’) of education. Statement C, on the other hand the quality that a ‘principal’ or a ‘headmaster’ should possess in order to promote education quality. The two highlighted words are homonyms, however the theme of C and rest of the sentences together is completely different.
4. Spot the Sequence:
Note that all the sentences (except the odd one) may often form a proper sequential order when put together. So you may need to approach it as a paragraph jumble question and then find out the one that cannot fit in the sequence:
In the question given below, there are five statements marked A-E. All the statements except one belong to the same context. Find the odd one out and mark the correct answer from the given options.
A. Io and Europa, the inner two of Jupiter’s four largest moons, are about the size of Earth’s moon and are composed mostly or entirely of rock and metal, Ganymede and Callisto are larger and roughly half ice.
B. Thus, these four moons are somewhat analogous to the planets of the solar system, in which the rock-and metal-rich inner planets are distinct from the much larger gas-and ice-rich outer planets.
C. Jupiter’s moons are, however, more “systematic”: many of their properties vary continuously with distance from Jupiter. For example, Io is ice-free, Europa has a surface shell of ice, and while Ganymede and Callisto are both ice-rich, outermost Callisto has more.
D. The character of Rosalind in one of the Shakespeare’s plays dismantles the fixity of gender identity as she decides to disguise herself as Ganymede, a young gentleman.
E. Io is extremely geologically active, Europa seems to be active on a more modest scale, and Ganymede has undergone bouts of activity in its geological past.
Solution: If noticed carefully, all the statements except D are concerned with celestial bodies in the solar system. The context comprises of Jupiter and its moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Statement D talks about Ganymede, a character in one of Shakespeare’s plays. Rest of the statements either discuss the features of the moons or compare them with other celestial bodies in the solar system. All the statements except D will also form a logical sequence and a coherent passage.
Thus, statement D is the odd one and option 4 is the correct answer.
5. Statement and Flow Contrast:
You might also come across a passage where one of the statements does not fit the flow of the idea when the statements are put together:
In the question given below, there are five statements marked A-E. All the statements except one belong to the same context. Find the odd one out and mark the correct answer from the given options.
A. When Jamaican-born social activist Marcus Garvey came to the United States in 1916, he arrived at precisely the right historical moment.
B. On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected as thePresident of the United States.
C. What made the moment right was the return of African American soldiers from the First World War in 1918, which created an ideal constituency for some with Garvey’s message of unity, pride, and improved conditions for African American communities.
D. But the African American returned to a United States only to find themselves segregated from white troops and subjected to numerous indignities as it had been before the war.
E. Hoping to participate in the traditional American ethos of individual success, many African American people entered the armed forces with enthusiasm.
Solution: The mention of ‘African- American’ as well as ‘America’ may appear to be common in all the statements, but at the contextual level, statement B stands out for several reasons. Statements A and C clearly suggest that the backdrop of the context is the World War I (1916 & 1918). Also, Garvey is common in both of them. So the context of war is implicit in both the sentences along with the mention of the African American communities. Statements D and E fall within the same context as A and C as because the idea of war persists within the framework of African American Community.
Statement B stands out as the time period (2008) and the general context of the statement (the Presidential election) are different from the rest of the statements. Though the idea of the ‘African American’ and the spatial context of America remain same, a completely different thing is being talked about here.
What to Expect in Odd Sentence Out Questions
- Expect varying degrees of difficulty level.
- You can also expect more of such new type of questions from IBPS like paragraph completion where you may be asked to find the last sentence of a particular passage. You might also get a passage containing a blank anywhere in the passage and be asked to fill a statement which can make the passage coherent.
Time to Practice:
TASK #1:
- Reliance Industries (RIL), India‘s largest company, saw its earnings before interest and taxes jump 15 per cent from the first quarter to the second, though net profits grew at a far more modest 2.6 per cent.
- Part of the reason for this was a sharp, 8 per cent-plus fall in its refining margins, down from $8.40 per barrel in Q1 to $7.70 per barrel in Q2.
- For RIL, refining and selling oil and making petrochemicals are not new. Investors understand these businesses and value them realistically.
- This fall happened because the Asian demand — and, therefore, pricing — of lighter fuels like diesel and petrol was under pressure, possibly because most major emerging economies are growing slower than they were before.
TASK #2:
- There are consolation prizes which console, and some which char the soul.
- I am not suggesting we write a condolence letter, but sympathy is certainly due to Sachin.
- Membership of Parliament is a handsome freebie for Sachin Tendulkar.
- Nomination to the Rajya Sabha is a pretty desultory substitute for someone who has been promised the Bharat Ratna.
TASK #3:
- Legislating laws to prohibit marriage between races hurt the couples involved
- and Often couples who had lived together for years had to separate
- These laws prohibited intermarriage between people of different races
- Which caused loneliness and bitterness because of ignorance and a desire to see themselves as better than people of other races
- Up to the 1960s, miscegenation laws were still enforced in some parts of the United States.