Step 1: List the five major manifestations. Acute rheumatic fever's major criteria are carditis, migratory polyarthritis, Sydenham chorea, erythema marginatum, and subcutaneous nodules.
Step 2: Compare the options. Three of the choices, carditis, chorea, and erythema marginatum, sit squarely in the major group. The remaining choice, polyarthralgia, is mere joint pain and is classified among the minor criteria.
Step 3: Resolve the contrast. The trap is polyarthritis versus polyarthralgia. Inflamed joints (arthritis) are major, whereas painful joints alone (arthralgia) are minor, so polyarthralgia is the exception.
\[\boxed{\text{Polyarthralgia}}\]