Odd one out

Today I am going to create odd-one-out activities, that is, exercises where students are presented with a list of words, and their task is to identify which item doesn’t belong with the others. After experimenting with ChatGPT for a while for odd-one-out activities, I have found that results are not always up to scratch. However, one must acknowledge that technology will save us tons of time in the process, and in the end, we can simply leave out bits we are not pleased with and just take with us what we think will work well for our teaching needs and purposes.

My first task is to create an odd-one-out activity to review basic vocabulary for low levels. I am going to limit my target number to 10 so that I can display the full results here better, but the higher the target number, the better positioned we are to discard disappointing items. Here’s the prompt: Act as my English teacher. I am an Elementary student of English as a Foreign Language. I have recently been studying vocabulary for food. Create an activity with 10 exercises for an ‘odd-one-out’ activity. For each exercise list 3 words that have something in common and one word that doesn’t, in any order. Then, provide the correct answers at the end of the activity. All words listed must be related to food, so think of something out of the box and creative that will mean three words belong together and one doesn’t.

Odd One Out Activity: Food Edition

Instructions: In each group of four food-related words, three belong to the same category or share a common feature, but one word does not fit. Find the odd one out.

1. Banana, Cake, Grape, Orange
2. Tomato, Potato, Bread, Carrot
3. Milk, Cheese, Chicken, Butter
4. Fish, Rice, Pasta, Apple
5. Coffee, Water, Juice, Sandwich
6. Lemon, Sugar, Salt, Pepper
7. Chocolate, Ice cream, Broccoli, Candy
8. Soup, Salad, Burger, Juice
9. Egg, Steak, Cookie, Sausage
10. Bread, Cereal, Tea, Rice

Answers

1. Cake (The others are fruits.)
2. Bread (The others are vegetables.)
3. Chicken (The others are dairy products.)
4. Apple (The others are grains or fish.)
5. Sandwich (The others are drinks.)
6. Lemon (The others are seasonings.)
7. Broccoli (The others are sweets/desserts.)
8. Juice (The others are meals/foods.)
9. Cookie (The others are proteins/meats.)
10. Tea (The others are types of grains or bread.)

Good enough. As stated earlier, we can’t take everything that is presented to us at face value. Numbers 4 and 9 are faulty items, so if we decided to use this activity, we would copy and paste the generated list and remove those items. And here’s when the magic happens by tweaking the prompt a little. Prompt: Create the same type of exercise, but this time think of highly creative criteria.

Odd One Out Activity: Creative Food Edition

Instructions: In each group of four food-related words, three share a creative or unusual feature, but one word does not fit. Find the odd one out.

1. Carrot, Cucumber, Apple, Grape
2. Ice cream, Pizza, Salad, Sandwich
3. Soup, Cereal, Coffee, Tea
4. Pasta, Rice, Banana, Bread
5. Honey, Jam, Chicken, Ketchup
6. Watermelon, Pineapple, Lemon, Cake
7. Butter, Cream, Olive oil, Salt
8. Sushi, Burger, Chocolate, Hotdog
9. Egg, Orange, Milk, Yogurt
10. Garlic, Cheese, Onion, Chocolate

Answers

1. Carrot (The others are foods you can eat without peeling.)
2. Ice cream (The others are foods you usually eat with your hands.)
3. Soup (The others are drinks.)
4. Banana (The others are foods made from grains.)
5. Chicken (The others are spreads or sauces.)
6. Cake (The others are fruits with seeds inside.)
7. Salt (The others are fats or oils.)
8. Chocolate (The others are main meal items, not desserts.)
9. Orange (The others are dairy products.)
10. Chocolate (The others are foods with strong odors.)

This is a much better variation because, in addition to the language rationale, we are introducing a think-outside-the-box element into the mix.

I find that this will variation will work better in the language classroom because of the think-outside-the box element brought into the mix, which makes it more engaging and memorable. I don’t think number 1 actually makes sense (so I would remove it), but the rest are just fine, except for numbers 2 and 10, which are great.

Apart from generating activities dealing with lexical sets, we could also create grammar-based activities using this type of prompts. Here’s an example. Prompt: I am an Intermediate teacher of English as as Foreign Language. Create an activity with 10 items for a ‘odd-one-out’ exercise. The students must be tested on the present perfect versus the past simple . Each item will have 3 sentences that are grammatically correct based on the grammar focus and 1 that is incorrect. Head each sentence with the letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ and ‘d’. List the sentences for each item in any order, and then provide the correct answers at the end of the activity.

1.  

a) She has lived in Paris since 2015.
b) They visited Rome last summer.
c) I have never been to Australia.
d) I didn’t eat breakfast this morning.

2.  

a) Have you ever seen that movie?
b) He has already finished his homework last night.
c) We went to the museum yesterday.
d) They’ve just arrived.

3.  

a) I met him three years ago.
b) She has worked here for two years.
c) We’ve been friends since high school.
d) I didn’t see her yet.

4.  

a) He’s traveled to Japan three times.
b) I’ve finished reading the book two days ago.
c) They moved to Canada in 2010.
d) We’ve just had dinner.

5.  

a) She has already gone to bed.
b) I have seen that movie last weekend.
c) I saw that movie yesterday.
d) They’ve lived here for five years.

6.  

a) We didn’t go to the party last night.
b) I have lost my keys.
c) They have visited their grandparents last week.
d) She’s lived here all her life.

7.  

a) He’s just left the office.
b) I didn’t finish my homework yet.
c) She’s known him since childhood.
d) I’ve never been to that restaurant.

8.  

a) They moved here in 2018.
b) Have you finished your project yet?
c) I didn’t see him this morning.
d) I’ve seen her yesterday.

9.  

a) I’ve already eaten lunch.
b) We haven’t spoken to him yet.
c) He bought a new car last year.
d) They’ve been to Spain last summer.

10.  

a) We haven’t met her before.
b) She’s lived in London since 2010.
c) I saw them two days ago.
d) I’ve visited them last month.

Answers

1. d (The correct sentence is: I haven’t eaten breakfast this morning.)
2. b (The correct sentence is: He finished his homework last night.)
3. d (The correct sentence is: I haven’t seen her yet.)
4. b (The correct sentence is: I finished reading the book two days ago.)
5. b (The correct sentence is: I saw that movie last weekend.)
6. c (The correct sentence is: They visited their grandparents last week.)
7. b (The correct sentence is: I haven’t finished my homework yet.)
8. d (The correct sentence is: I saw her yesterday.)
9. d (The correct sentence is: They went to Spain last summer.)
10. d (The correct sentence is: I visited them last month.)

Once again, caution must be exercised, and we will have to sift through the generated items and discard what’s not accurate or could be debatable. In items 1, 3 and 7, for instance, all sentences are actually possible if we take into consideration other varieties of English besides British English.