Introduction / Context:
This is an alphabet pattern odd one out question from verbal reasoning. You are given four two letter groups and you need to identify which pair does not follow the same spacing pattern in terms of alphabetical positions. Such questions help test the candidate ability to quickly map letters to their positions in the English alphabet and recognize consistent jumps or differences between letters.
Given Data / Assumptions:
- The given letter pairs are WZ, FG, UX and OR.
- The English alphabet is assumed to be A to Z with positions from 1 to 26.
- We consider the forward direction of the alphabet for counting differences.
Concept / Approach:The general approach is to convert each letter to its alphabetical position and then compute the numerical difference between the first and second letter of each pair. If three pairs have the same difference and one pair has a different difference, the one that breaks the pattern is the odd one out.
Step-by-Step Solution:Step 1: For WZ, W is the 23rd letter and Z is the 26th letter. Difference = 26 - 23 = 3.Step 2: For FG, F is the 6th letter and G is the 7th letter. Difference = 7 - 6 = 1.Step 3: For UX, U is the 21st letter and X is the 24th letter. Difference = 24 - 21 = 3.Step 4: For OR, O is the 15th letter and R is the 18th letter. Difference = 18 - 15 = 3.Step 5: We observe that WZ, UX and OR each have a difference of 3 between the first and second letter, while FG has a difference of only 1. Hence FG does not follow the same pattern as the other three.Verification / Alternative check:An alternative way is to mentally count the letters: W, X, Y, Z involves three steps from W to Z; U, V, W, X also gives three steps from U to X; O, P, Q, R gives three steps from O to R. For F to G there is only one step. This re confirms that FG is the only pair with a difference of 1, whereas the others have a difference of 3.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:WZ is not the odd one out because it has a letter gap of 3, which matches UX and OR.UX is also not the odd one out since it follows the same +3 pattern in the alphabet as WZ and OR.OR is not the odd one out because it again maintains the three step difference between letters, consistent with WZ and UX.
Common Pitfalls:Students sometimes focus on whether letters are near the start or end of the alphabet or on whether the pair contains vowels or consonants. These ideas do not give a consistent pattern in this question. The key is to focus on the numerical difference between positions in the alphabet. Confusing forward and backward counting or miscounting the number of letters between can also cause mistakes. Practicing mapping letters to numbers improves speed and accuracy in such problems.
Final Answer:The only letter pair that has a difference of 1 instead of 3 is
FG, so FG is the odd one out.
Discussion & Comments