Four terms are given – watchman, retailer, abattoir and boatman – that are connected with occupations or work. Three of them name persons, while one names something different. Which word is the odd one out?

Introduction / Context:
This question belongs to the classification type in logical reasoning, where you are given words from a similar domain and asked to find the odd one out. Here, all the words are connected with jobs or occupations, but they do not belong to exactly the same category. Three of the words describe people who perform certain jobs, while one refers to a place connected with a particular type of work.

Given Data / Assumptions:
The given words are watchman, retailer, abattoir and boatman.
You are expected to know basic vocabulary about professions and related places.
Three options refer to human workers, and one refers to a location or establishment rather than a person.
The correct answer is the one that does not denote a person by role or profession.

Concept / Approach:
To solve this question, identify the grammatical category and meaning of each word. Watchman, retailer and boatman can all refer to individual people who work in specific roles. Abattoir, however, is the name of an establishment where animals are slaughtered. The odd one out is therefore the word that names a place instead of a person with a job title.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Watchman is a person who guards a building, area or property, especially at night. This clearly describes an individual worker. Step 2: Retailer is a person or business that sells goods directly to consumers, often in shops or online. In this context, it refers to a person involved in selling. Step 3: Boatman is a person whose work is to row or operate a boat, sometimes to transport people or goods across water. Step 4: Abattoir is not a person. It is the name of a place, specifically a slaughterhouse where animals are killed for meat. Step 5: Group the options. Watchman, retailer and boatman are all human workers, while abattoir is a location related to the meat industry. Step 6: Therefore, abattoir does not belong to the same category as the other three and is the odd one out.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick verification method is to see which words can naturally follow personal pronouns such as he or she. You can say “He is a watchman”, “She is a retailer” or “He is a boatman”. In contrast, you would not say “He is an abattoir”; instead, you would say “He works in an abattoir”. This shows that abattoir functions as a noun for a place rather than a person, confirming it as the odd one.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Watchman: A human guard; fits the category of a person with a job title.
Retailer: A person engaged in retail trade; again a role or occupation, not the odd one.
Boatman: A person who works with or rows boats; yet another occupation, not the odd element.

Common Pitfalls:
Sometimes learners focus only on the general theme, such as “all are related to work”, and miss the finer categorisation. In classification questions, you must often go one step deeper and see whether the words denote people, places, tools or actions. Here, the person versus place distinction is the key. Avoid overcomplicating the question by searching for less obvious similarities or differences when a straightforward grammatical and conceptual distinction is available.

Final Answer:
The only word that denotes a place and not a person is Abattoir.