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CAT 2018 Slot 2 — VARC Question 26

Mixed PracticeEasy

Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and coherent short paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

  1. Much has been recently discovered about the development of songs in birds.
  2. Some species are restricted to a single song learned by all individuals, others have a range of songs.
  3. The most important auditory stimuli for the birds are the sounds of other birds.
  4. For all bird species there is a prescribed path to development of the final song,
  5. A bird begins with the subsong, passes through plastic song, until it achieves the species song.

 

Answer & solution

Correct answer: 3

Answer: 3

Solution

Easy

Four of the five sentences build one coherent paragraph; the fifth is the misfit. First locate the common theme, build the chain of the four that link, and the leftover sentence — the one that drifts to a different idea — is the odd one out.

1

Find the theme and opener. The shared topic is the development of birdsong. Sentence 1 is a clear opener: “Much has been recently discovered about the development of songs in birds.” It introduces the subject in general terms.

2

Build the chain. Sentence 4 follows: “For all bird species there is a prescribed path to development of the final song.” Sentence 5 then spells out that path: subsong → plastic song → species song (5). Sentence 2 closes by noting variety in the outcome — some species have a single song, others a range (2). This gives the coherent paragraph 1–4–5–2, all about how the song develops.

3

Spot the misfit. Sentence 3 — “The most important auditory stimuli for the birds are the sounds of other birds” — shifts to auditory stimuli / sounds in general, not to the developmental path of a bird's song. It breaks the 1-4-5-2 flow and adds an idea the others do not need. It is the odd one out.

The paragraph is 1-4-5-2; the odd sentence is 3.

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CAT 2018 Slot 2 VARC Q26: Five sentences related to a topic are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a meaningful and c — Solution | TheCATExam