Why Is Finding the Odd Word Out Challenging?

[powerball]

Here are a selection of questions in the practice oxford written test.
I still do not understand the mechanism to work out the answers to this type of question. Can anyone help me out?

which is the odd word out and why?

a) gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new
b)mail, dine, annoy, asset, sinned
c) ethereal, withered, furthest, brethen, untether,
d) defamation, deputation, persuasion, mendacious, numeration, precarious,
e) wind, srow, elope, tear
f) aging, frump, steam, spied, valet
g)algorithms, artichokes, alpenstock, admonished, avouchment, abridgment
h) heritage, panorama, palisade, channels, paranoid, morosely, lemonade
i) rated, ulcer, edits, trade, easel, crate, armed, sited, merit, taper, dream, react, lease, remit, cruel
j) friends, end, woe, warpath, quashed, apt, ant, remarry, use, red, sampled, magnate, ape, ear, swooped
k) pile, slim, balustrade, amen, neat, principle, temperable, naturalism, cane, dear, stalagmite, beastliest, item, bale, confidante, site, cognisance

 

[wasteofo2]

Sometimes, I think the people who are precieved as super intelligent (including those who made this test) make things like this as a joke amongst one another, seeing who can make the most ridiculous thing which can be accepted as sound.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by wasteofo2
Sometimes, I think the people who are precieved as super intelligent (including those who made this test) make things like this as a joke amongst one another, seeing who can make the most ridiculous thing which can be accepted as sound.

That's the trouble, imo; it's often so ambiguous, but a single answer is often expected.

 

[wasteofo2]

even with simple things, "which doesn't belong" often can't have only one right answer, different answers, when able to be explained, just show different thinking patterns.

Like this set: apricot, orange, tangerine, lemon, orangutan.

most people would choose orangutan for obvious reasons, but most any of the answers can be justified in various ways.

tangerine doesn't have the letter "o" in it.
Lemons are yellow, the rest are all orange.
apricot doesn't have the letter "n" in it.
orange is the only one which has the same name and color.


All of them could really be acceptable, but answers other than orangutan would likely be marked wrong, when all it is is a thought process which is different than the person who wrote the question.

 

[Descartes]

Interestingly enough, I tend to first follow the thought pattern in your second example. For example, with the first set of words:

a) gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new

The thing that immediately came to mind was that: each word is 3 letters, and each word has a single vowel in the middle. Granted, I wasn't able to find anything beyond that, but not everyone approaches such "puzzles" by analyzing the semantic values first.

 

[THANOS]

new would be the odd one out i think.
gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new

to Rob a bank is a sin and you might need a gun to do it. the banker would have to pay the boy but i can't seem to fit new

 

[Infomeantion]

Original question

which is the odd word out and why?

a) gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new
b)mail, dine, annoy, asset, sinned
c) ethereal, withered, furthest, brethen, untether,
d) defamation, deputation, persuasion, mendacious, numeration, precarious,
e) wind, srow, elope, tear
f) aging, frump, steam, spied, valet
g)algorithms, artichokes, alpenstock, admonished, avouchment, abridgment
h) heritage, panorama, palisade, channels, paranoid, morosely, lemonade
i) rated, ulcer, edits, trade, easel, crate, armed, sited, merit, taper, dream, react, lease, remit, cruel
j) friends, end, woe, warpath, quashed, apt, ant, remarry, use, red, sampled, magnate, ape, ear, swooped
k) pile, slim, balustrade, amen, neat, principle, temperable, naturalism, cane, dear, stalagmite, beastliest, item, bale, confidante, site, cognisance


The ones that I am pretty sure on:
A)rob - Just take each letter for it's number in the alphabet for each word and add them together. Each of the words sum is 42, except rob which is 35.
D) defamation - all other words contain every vowel
I) taper - each other answer has an anagram of itself in the series
J) end - each other word is in one other word every two letters, e.g. fRiEnDs red, sAmPlEd ape
K) amen - each of the other four letter words are anagrams of the last four letters of a corresponding long word, e.g. balustRADE - dear, stalagMITE - item.

The ones that are less than concrete for sure:
C) ethereal - only hard 'th' sound (assuming brethen is just a typo)
E) elope - only one that cannot be used as both a verb and a noun
G) algorithm - only one not with three syllables

I need to split now, but I'm sure there are other patterns to see as well. When taking those things, if you just keep in mind that there has to be some 'real' answer that they are looking for, although I agree somewhat with it showing different avenues of thoughts on the questions. There very well could be more definitive answers on the last three, but I don't have time to think them over right now. Anyway, have fun with the "logic".

 

[photon]

I was thinking that in the puzzle, "gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new," new would be the answer because it is the only adjective. The rest are verbs and nouns.

Loco test makers!

 

[Infomeantion]

f) aging, frump, steam, spied, valet
h) heritage, panorama, palisade, channels, paranoid, morosely, lemonade


f) spied - the other words have drinks in as the middle three letters, e.g. aGINg, fRUMp, whereas spied has a food.

h) paranoid - the other words have names in the middle, e.g. heRITAge, paNORAma, paLISAde.

I still don't know B and it hurts.

 

[Semper000]

Here are what I believe to be the answers:


A. New

It is the only adjective/adverb in the group. The rest are n(noun) or combo n/v.


B. Asset.

It's the only one that can only be used as a noun. The rest are v and v/n combined.


C. Furthest

Unlike the others, a consonant, not a vowel precedes the "th".


D. Mendacious

It has no repeating letters, making it the exception.


E. Elope

It contains 5 letters, while the others contain 4.


F. Aging

It begins with a vowel, unlike the rest.


G. Algorithms

Out of a set of 3-syllable words, it is the 4-syllable exception.


H. Channels

It has 6 consonants, while all others have 4.


I. Cruel

It is the lone adjective.


J. Remarry

It contains 3 recurring letters; all others have <3.


K. Slim

Out of the list of 17 words, it is the only one to contain just 1 vowel.

 

[Infomeantion]

First off, I would say that this kind of test doesn't really have 'correct' answers, but there are relationships among the words that are more peculiar or singular when compared to others. I am glad Semper000 posted his responses and am just posting some thoughts I have regarding the differences between SOME of our answers. I am not saying Semper000's answers are incorrect. Also, I will direct this post to Semper000, so when I say 'you', I refer to Semper000.

a) gun, boy, pay, rob, sin, new
My answer (MA) - rob
Your answer(YA)- new
The reason I did not go with new, for your reason of it being the only adjective (which I did think of), is that more generally that can be phrased as a singularity in part of speech. This could also apply to 'boy' because it is the only word that can only be used as an interjection. Thus, the fact that 'new' is the only 'its part of speech' is not odd. However, my answer of 'rob' is singular in that it is the only one whose letters, when mapped to the corresponding numbers of position in the alphabet, sum to something other than 42.

b) mail, dine, annoy, asset, sinned
MA - didn't give one
YA - asset
I thought of this possible answer also, but since it involves asset being strictly a noun, while mail can be a noun or verb, I didn't find this to be sufficiently odd. However, I cannot think of something more singular, so your answer is the best I can come up with also, it still hurts because it doesn't seem THAT singular.

c) ethereal, withered, furthest, brethen, untether
MA - ethereal - only hard TH sound.
YA - furthest - only word with TH preceded by a consonant.
I like your answer. It seems more concrete than mine, but I cannot say definitely why. They both seem to be singular, but I can also think of other singular answers like 'furthest' because it's the only superlative, or 'untether' because it's the only prefixed word, or word phrased in the negative. I still don't like any of the answers, because they are not very definitive, nothing really stands out to me.

d) defamation, deputation, persuasion, mendacious, numeration, precarious
MA - defamation - only word without each of the vowels
YA - mendacious - only word that doesn't repeat a letter
Both are good answers and I'm glad that you found a different one that seems to be just as singular and peculiar.


f) aging, frump, steam, spied, valet
MA - spied - middle three letters is a food, other words is a drink
YA - aging - only word that starts with a vowel
I just find it more peculiar and a stronger connection between the words that the middle three letters happen to each compose actual words, let alone 4 drinks and only 1 food.

h) heritage, panorama, palisade, channels, paranoid, morosely, lemonade
MA - paranoid - heRITAge: female name, paNORAma, but RANO is not a female name.
YA - channels - only word not with 4 consonants
'morosely' has a y which can be considered a consonant which makes it 5, which voids your answer. In this word, it sounds like a vowel, but this adds an ambiguity to the answer. There is no ambiguity that the other words happen to have female names as the middle four letters with the only exception being paRANOid. (Am I this bored?)

i) rated, ulcer, edits, trade, easel, crate, armed, sited, merit, taper, dream, react, lease, remit, cruel
YA - cruel - It is the only adjective
The word 'rated' can be used as an adjective.

For both J and K, your answers are singular. But I find them weaker bonds than the ones I provided.

Anyway, I was just bored and I figured that you gave these answers without reading my posts, but on the off chance that you disagree with me I would like to hear how.

 

[Semper000]

Yes, you have illustrated a few stronger logical "oddities" in some questions (as compared to mine). I believe most of mine use adequate logic. I definitely think that (at least) your answers on F and H have "won out" over mine. You seem to have approached those with greater depth than I did. I fiddled with this around 3:00am yesterday morning.

It's interesting that you approached C from an aural standpoint, where I analyzed it asthetically. I think, as you do, that both answers can fit. However I would tend to choose my answer over yours here. Your choice seems too abstract to me.

At any rate, I hadn't seen your answers yet before I posted. And this is my first time attempting to figure out something like this ...Thanks! You've helped me learn there may be many ways to skin the cat on a quiz like this ...

...But that it's likely the most REFINED method gets the prize!