Odd one out (Irrelevant Sentence)

Question

Would you be kind enough to explain which of the sentences below does not belong in the paragraph? Thanks in advance.

(I) The blues originated around the year 1900 in a relatively small area of the country called the Mississippi Delta. (II) The blues is not just a style of music. (III) Confusing it with rockn'roll or jazz, most people do not even know what kind of music it is. (IV) It's also a certain type of musical language that was different from the European heritage of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. (V) In brief, blues is actually a genre and can refer to different things, music being just one of them.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Would you be kind enough to explain which of the sentences below does not belong in the paragraph? Thanks in advance.

(I) The blues originated around the year 1900 in a relatively small area of the country called the Mississippi Delta. (II) The blues is not just a style of music. (III) Confusing it with rockn'roll or jazz, most people do not even know what kind of music it is. (IV) It's also a certain type of musical language that was different from the European heritage of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. (V) In brief, blues is actually a genre and can refer to different things, music being just one of them.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'does not belong'. The paragraph as written is not wrong. However, I would say that the paragraph would read more smoothly without number III. By 'smoothly', I mean that the sentences would seem more closely connected to each other. The overall meaning focuses on a definition of the blues, but sentence III takes the meaning off at a slight tangent.

Clive

Mr.Ka · Answer

Thank you very much.

But what about the repetitive use of "the blues" in the second sentence?

Does the paragraph still read "smoothly" with "the blues" being there?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I) The blues originated around the year 1900 in a relatively small area of the country called the Mississippi Delta. (II) The blues is not just a style of music. (III) Confusing it with rockn'roll or jazz, most people do not even know what kind of music it is. (IV) It's also a certain type of musical language that was different from the European heritage of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. (V) In brief, blues is actually a genre and can refer to different things, music being just one of them.

But what about the repetitive use of "the blues" in the second sentence?

Does the paragraph still read "smoothly" with "the blues" being there?

Your original query was about which of the five sentences as writen did not belong. Now you are asking about improving the sentences. OK.

In sentence II, you could say 'it'. But the length of sentence I seems to me to justify repeating 'the blues'. In sentence V, say 'the blues'.

Clive

Sam1947 · Answer

I would say you are asking a question that expands beyond grammar. "The Blues" is generally a reference to a particular type of music, of which there are many variations. I'm not aware of anything else that is included in that genre. There is art based on blues music, including both dramatic arts, photography, and painting, but "the blues" refers to music, not the artistic elements that derive their inspiration from the music, or the food and other cultural elements that are associated with it.

I have some pretty intimate knowledge of this because I grew up in the Mississippi Delta.

I'd say both sentence 2 and sentence 5 aren't really accurate, unless, by sentence 2, you mean that "the blues" style of music encompasses a culture that goes beyond the music.

I'd work on writing this in a much more colorful, evocative style that befits the subject matter.

Odd one out (Irrelevant Sentence)

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