CAT 2023 Slot 1 — VARC Question 20
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.
1. In English, there is no systematic rule for the naming of numbers; after ten, we have "eleven" and "twelve" and then the teens: "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen" and so on.
2. Even more confusingly, some English words invert the numbers they refer to: the word "fourteen" puts the four first, even though it appears last.
3. It can take children a while to learn all these words, and understand that "fourteen" is different from "forty".
4. For multiples of 10, English speakers switch to a different pattern: "twenty", "thirty", "forty" and so on.
5. If you didn't know the word for "eleven", you would be unable to just guess it – you might come up with something like "one-teen".
Answer & solution
Answer: 3
Easy
Odd-sentence-out. Establish the unifying theme of the four-sentence paragraph, then eliminate the sentence that talks about something else.
Find the theme. Sentence 1 sets it up: English has "no systematic rule for the naming of numbers" ("eleven", "twelve", then the teens). The paragraph is about the irregular, unsystematic way English names numbers.
Confirm the coherent core (1-5-2-4). Sentence 5 — you couldn't guess "eleven" (you'd say "one-teen") — illustrates the lack of rule. Sentence 2 — "Even more confusingly… 'fourteen' puts the four first" — adds another irregularity. Sentence 4 — "For multiples of 10, English speakers switch to a different pattern: 'twenty', 'thirty'…" — gives yet another quirk. All describe the naming system itself.
Spot the intruder. Sentence 3 — "It can take children a while to learn all these words, and understand that 'fourteen' is different from 'forty'." — shifts focus to children learning the words, i.e. the consequence for learners, not the structure of the naming system. That is the off-theme sentence.
3. Sentence 3 is about children's learning of the words, whereas the other four describe the unsystematic naming of numbers.