Can you answer this elementary school problem?

[AviatorTom]

The teacher who gave this problem to her students says the correct answer is silver, because it's the only one that isn't a noun, it's an adjective.

Excuse me... does she not know that silver is a metal... and a noun?

Parents were stumped by this problem, and gave legitimate reasons why every word could be the odd one out.

What would you choose as the odd one out? There are no right nor wrong answers, if you can justify your choice.

FYI... I would choose toothbrush, for two reasons: it's the only compound word, and the only one that doesn't have an "e" in it.

[KostasKouvalis]

DAMNIT! I knew I shouldn't have scrolled down! Why would you post the answer in the description, if you want us to figure it out. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Maybe she meant that "silver" is the only one that's both an adjective and a noun.

Your reasoning for "tootbrush" is also legit. I would also argue that in that case it could also be "egg", since it's the only word with a G, the only 3 letter word, and the only word with double consanants. There's definitely more than one correct answer, and it makes me wonder if she would've accepted "egg or "toothbrush" with the explanations we gave. The question is incredibly vague and open ended

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

It seems to me like this question should accept multiple answers provided the rationale is sound.

Silver is the one that struck out to me first not because it's always an adjective but because it has an adjective form whereas the rest are nouns/verbs.

Toothbrush also makes sense being the only word without an "e".

"Egg" also makes sense to me as the only word that starts with a voxel rather than a consonant.

I suspect if I think about it long enough that there's a way to justify all possible choices.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

[*] Toothbrush also makes sense being the only [compound] word [and] without an "e" [as you mentioned].

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

And * vowel, sorry, not voxel. My eyes are really getting worse these days.

[Jessica405]

I have the same issue. Eyes both got macular holes.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@Jessica405 Sorry to hear that! I've been near-sighted since my teens but lately my glasses are so strong that I have to take them off to see things nearby clearly or hold my phone out at arm distance.

[Jessica405]

Not good. I hope it doesn't get any worse!

[KostasKouvalis]

What word do you see in there that's a verb?

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@KostasKouvalis Depending on whether archaic language is accepted, "friend". Example from Shakespeare:

>> Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now! -- Henry V

In older literature like Shakespeare, "friend" was often used as a verb this way. Today we use "befriend" to disambiguate the noun form from verb form but "friend" was originally used as both noun and verb.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@KostasKouvalis I'm not sure if that would be formally accepted now as it's considered archaic, but being from Japan, I mainly learned English originally through reading rather than speaking (actually learned to read English words before I learned how to pronounce them out loud). Included was a lot of older literature like Shakespeare, Moby Dick, the Old and New Testament, as well as role-playing computer games set in fantasy settings resembling Middle Age Europe where they often deliberately used older styles of English (ex: Ultima games).

[KostasKouvalis]

That thought did cross my mind as well, but the correct term is indeed "befriend". No one says, "I will friend him" I will "friend request" him. I will friend him on social media. I friended him on social media. Well... I guess technically people DO say that, but it doesn't officially count since it's nor formal English. Here's what Google says about it being a verb.

verb

1.
add (someone) to a list of contacts associated with a social networking website:
informal
"I am friended by 29 people who I have not friended back"
2.
befriend (someone).
archaic

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@KostasKouvalis Yes, might just be considered incorrect these days. That's mainly just something I realized was originally used as a verb in older literature like Shakespeare. It's something that popped into mind since I don't know how English courses work in America, but the students might have to be exposed to some older literature like Shakespearean works where "friend" does tend to be used as a verb instead of "befriend".

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@KostasKouvalis A general growing pain I had though when I went to the US for high school is that my English teachers had to correct a lot of my writing for being archaic and also British, like I spelled "color" as "colour" (British spelling). I also used a lot of archaic words like "thus" and "thusly" instead of "therefore" as well as words like "therein".

[KostasKouvalis]

I wouldn't recommend Shakespear to someone trying to learn English. I don't recall ever being taught "therin" or "thusly", but we were taught some words from Old English, as well as some British variations, but were told not to use them. If I was a teacher, I probably wouldn't mark a student down for using "colour" instead of "color, but that's just me. We actually DID use a lot of British/archaeic spellings until the mid-1900s. Teddy Roosevelt actually tried to pass an act to simplify the English language, but it got thrown out by Congress, though some of his suggestions like "color", "wagon" and "public" did end up being adopted later on.

When it comes to learning another language that's spoken across a wide geographic range, it's wise to learn the dialect of whichever country you plan to live in. So if you plan to live in the U. S., you want to learn American English.

[KostasKouvalis]

There are a lot of words in British English that we don't use in American English, and vice-versa, or we use the same word for different things.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

@KostasKouvalis I might still use a mixture every now and then of archaic and British. I love the slang British "innit" and sometimes wish I could use that in daily conversation. 😅

It reminds me of Japanese "ne". "It's a good day, innit?" We say very similarly like, "It's a good day, ne?"

I think a lot of my exposure to Shakespeare and archaic forms of English came from my love of Middle Age Europe and the European Renaissance. For some reason, I was always drawn as a boy even in Japan more to feudal European history with knights in armor jousting and fighting in heavy amounts of metal that made them look more like machines than men. I didn't find samurai or Japanese feudal history nearly as interesting.

So with that bias, I ended up favoring a lot of literature and manuscripts around that time period as my source of learning English including but not limited to Shakespeare. Actually the first thing that inspired me to learn some English was playing computer role-playing games set in that time period that were only available in English and not Japanese.

[FreyaRed]

I would like answering "friend" because it's only imaginary thing and risk a visit by school psychologist. XD
German language as close Germanic language to English solves problems of similar nouns and adjectives very elegant, nouns start always with capital letter and use for verbal case determination der, die, das demonstrative pro-noun. [silber, das Silber].

[Apple1996]

I immediately said silver. It just seemed like the odd one compared to the others

[WindAtMyBack]

It asks which word is the odd one out, which is not the same as asking which of the following is the odd one out. So this is probably a grammar test.

If you assume it's a grammar test, then silver is the only one that makes sense. Toothbrush is the only combination word, but it's a stretch to call that grammar. None of the others stand out grammatically.

[RavenBear0]

Honestly I would've said "friend" coz it's the only one that's not an inanimate object but aight

[JacobJordan]

That question is just stupid as it predicates its entire logic on the fact the others can not be used as an adjective. Had she said "Silver because it is the only one that is a noun AND an adjective" she may have had a point.

[NathanDavis]

Friend...

I do have a couple of friends who definitely are the odd one out...

[OlderAndWiser]

Friend. It's the only one that cannot be easily replaced.

[Demonatrix]

Let's play are you smarter than a 5th grader.

Sorry I couldn't answer this question

[Flower7]

“Friend” because it’s the only one that isn’t an object.

[DJB72]

Friend. The others are all inanimate objects.

That said, I have a couple of friends who would fall into that category...

[Jessica405]

Silver is the only one that is both noun and adjective.

[SaoirseS]

I’d choose friend. The others are inanimate objects.

[Static_In_The_Attic]

Some will say silver however I’m sticking with toothbrush because it’s the only word that doesn’t contain the letter e.

[FunkyMonkee]

Silver was also the name of the Lone Ranger's horse! Wouldn't that be a noun?

[exitseven]

I picked friend since it is the only inanimate object

[Anonymous]

I’d choose friend because its a person rather than a thing

[Lynx122]

I would've said friend is the odd one out since the other ones are all objects and to me that's the biggest difference.

[OtterMan68]

egg is the only thing edible

silver is the only element

egg is the only one that can be used a verb

[purplepoppy]

Desk is the only one you can't put in your mouth

[brainwashed_sheep]

Yes, but all the words come from Old English except toothbrush, which was only recently discovered to be a form of oral hygiene.

[TentpPitcher]

Desks are also the only reliable thing to cover you up when you pitch a tent in classrooms.

[brainwashed_sheep]

Upon further investigation, "desk" is actually Old French. Sorry, I thought it sounded Germanic. Tooth and brush are both Old English. So @purplepoppy does indeed win the word problem game.

[purplepoppy]

Desk is from the Latin discus

[purplepoppy]

All The rest are germanic

[KostasKouvalis]

OMG Poppy!

[purplepoppy]

Silver is also the only one where the plural is the same, there's no "s" on the end.

[Paris13]

Silver Can Be Both Noun and Adjective. xxoo

[AnusNdaPainus]

Egg because it’s the only one you can eat

[LazerBean]

Toothbrush