Question

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.

• A. Boa Senior, who lived through the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation and diseases brought by British settlers, was the last native of the island chain who was fluent in Bo.
• B. The indigenous population has been steadily collapsing since the island chain was colonised by British settlers in 1858 and used for most of the following 100 years as a colonial penal colony.
• C. Taking its name from a now-extinct tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to pre-Neolithic human settlement of southeast Asia.
• D. The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000 -year link to one of the world's oldest cultures.
• E. Though the language has been closely studied by researchers of linguistic history, Boa Senior spent the last few years of her life unable to converse with anyone in her mother tongue.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Identifying the Outlier Sentence

The objective is to pinpoint the sentence that disrupts the contextual flow, preventing the formation of a cohesive paragraph.

Provided Sentences:

1. Boa Senior, a survivor of the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation, and diseases introduced by British settlers, was the sole remaining native of the island chain fluent in Bo.
2. The indigenous population has experienced a significant decline since the island chain's colonization by British settlers in 1858, and its subsequent use as a penal colony for a century.
3. Bo, named after an extinct tribe, is one of the ten Great Andamanese languages, believed to originate from pre-Neolithic human settlements in Southeast Asia.
4. The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has passed away in the Andaman Islands, marking the end of a 65,000-year connection to one of the world's most ancient cultures.
5. Despite extensive study by linguistic historians, Boa Senior spent her final years unable to communicate in her native tongue.

Thematic Breakdown:

• Sentences 1, 3, 4, and 5 focus on the death of Boa Senior, the extinction of the Bo language, and its historical significance.
• Sentence 2 addresses the historical impact of colonization on the island's population, diverging from the primary theme concerning language and Boa Senior.

Determination:

Sentence 2 is the outlier because it shifts the focus from linguistic and cultural extinction to the history of colonization.