Question

Five jumbled 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 out and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.

• A. Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant.
• B. New research suggests exposure to some common perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (Pfas) cause changes to gene activity and that these changes are linked to health problems including multiple cancers, neurological disorders and autoimmune disease.
• C. These Pfas compounds are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down in the environment.
• D. The research may also point toward other diseases potentially caused by Pfas that have not yet been identified.
• E. The findings are a major step toward determining the mechanism by which the chemicals cause disease and could help doctors identify, detect and treat health problems for those exposed to Pfas before the issues advance.

Hint:

When identifying odd sentences in a paragraph, focus on maintaining the coherence and logical flow of the ideas being discussed.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Approach (mandatory-pair test): Rather than label themes, hunt for the connectors that lock sentences together. Whatever is left with no rope tying it to the cluster is the misfit.

Step 1 — Find the locks: Sentence 3 starts with “$These$ PFAS compounds” — “These” demands a prior mention of PFAS in a research/health context, supplied by Sentence 2. Sentence 4 starts with “The research may also...” — “also” demands an earlier statement about the research, again Sentence 2/5. Sentence 5 begins “The findings...” — referring back to the new research in Sentence 2.

Step 2 — Build the rope: So 2 (the research) anchors 3, 4 and 5, all of which point back to it. They form one tightly bound block about the study and its consequences.

Step 3 — Find the loose end: Sentence 1 carries no back-reference and no forward hook — it is a standalone definition of PFAS by their commercial use. Nothing in 2/3/4/5 needs it, and it needs nothing from them. It is the rope-less sentence.

Step 4 — Sanity check: Drop 1 and the order 2-3-4-5 (or 2-5-4 with 3 slotted near the top) flows as a complete news item; drop any of 2/3/4/5 instead and a connector (“These”, “also”, “The findings”) is left dangling.

Final answer: Odd one out is 1.