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[-] killabeezio@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

Forty is the only number when spelled out that is in alphabetical order

[-] CXORA@aussie.zone 1 points 49 minutes ago

British spelling fixes this bug!

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 56 minutes ago

Oh yeah? Well what about i

[-] BillyClark@piefed.social 96 points 12 hours ago
  1. alphabet
  2. come
  3. in
  4. order
  5. the
  6. they
[-] melfie@lemy.lol 2 points 7 hours ago

Correct. It’s obviously supposed to be an ordered set, and that’s why there are 6 slots for 6 unique words.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 22 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

FTFY:

5. the
6. the

The alphabet provided ends with X. However, you apparently remove duplicates so maybe just cross out the last row?

[-] conorab@lemmy.conorab.com 13 points 9 hours ago

Still an error unfortunately. Should be:

  1. the
  2. bart
  3. the
[-] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 6 points 6 hours ago

We really should stick with the orginal German verision.

  1. Die
  2. Bart
  3. Die
[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 53 minutes ago* (last edited 53 minutes ago)

No one who alphabetizes in German could get a failing grade

First prize!

[-] BillyClark@piefed.social 15 points 10 hours ago

One important skill for school is to look at the entire question so that you can understand what the teacher is asking for, even if they don't format the question exactly right.

In this case, your answer would not fit into the 6 spaces provided for the answer.

So you have to ask yourself what they meant by "Write the following words". Since "the" is the same word repeated twice, once you've written "the" after 5, then I could argue that "the" has already been written.

Therefore, if there are only six blanks for the answer, looking at the entire question, I argue that the answer I provided is most likely correct.

[-] rustbuckett@lemmings.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Well, he/she is not wrong.

[-] doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they

"3B: used with a singular antecedent to refer to an unknown or unspecified person"

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 55 minutes ago* (last edited 54 minutes ago)

I used to like s/he until I realized I could type they and save zero characters and am not texting a pager

[-] aaaaaaaaargh@feddit.org 27 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

With more than three repetitions of the same algorithm the kid should've been automating the process.

[-] olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 108 points 13 hours ago

I like how fox stays the same.

[-] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 12 hours ago

I like how pond is backwards.

[-] degen@midwest.social 7 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Eirrv is such a better word for river that I'm retconning the English language

[-] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 hours ago

Feels like some new age Sindarin. I’m here for it tbh.

[-] nialv7@lemmy.world 9 points 10 hours ago

i wonder how many words are like that

[-] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 5 points 8 hours ago

I wish there were a free database of words to answer that question. :(

[-] wewbull@feddit.uk 37 points 11 hours ago

The question is poorly worded. It asks for words in the order they come in the alphabet. Words aren't in the alphabet. Letters are in the alphabet, so they reordered the letters.

[-] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 6 hours ago

That's not being pedantic, it's just wrong. Do you not call the order of words in a dictionary "alphabetical order"?

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 51 minutes ago

No I call them witchcraft

[-] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 7 hours ago

Is that what was wrong here?

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 46 points 12 hours ago

I like this kid.

[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 28 points 11 hours ago

It makes sense if not taught the conventions of alphabetizing first. Kids don't know what they don't know.

Mr. Rogers understood this on a deep level.

Or autistic. Most definitely autistic.

[-] excel@lemming.megumin.org 53 points 9 hours ago

OP already said programmer

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 hours ago

Some become engineers.

[-] 5715@feddit.org 27 points 12 hours ago

~~malicious~~ naive compliance

[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 15 points 11 hours ago

In case anyways else looked for the comments to try to figure out what was done wrong, the expected answer would be: apple, fox, log, pond, pumpkim, river.

[-] RedStrider@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

woah man, posting answers to tests online is cheating and can get you expelled!

[-] davidagain@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

I couldn't figure out what the clue was that the kid would be a programmer. Surely any kid could have gotten this right? Then I read your comment and it all made sense. Thank you.

And yes, yes I am a programmer.

[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago
[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 10 points 11 hours ago

Are you asking if I was confused how they did something wrong? Yes.

Are you asking if "apple, fox, log, pond, pumpkim, river" was the intended answer? Also probably yes (but I didn't make it, so I can't be sure).

[-] marlowe221@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

I was sent to the principals office several times in elementary school because my teachers thought I was trying to be a smart ass. Because I would do what they literally, exactly asked me to do, and not what they apparently meant.

I was always very confused because I honestly believed I was doing my best to follow instructions.

It didn’t help that I grew up in the American southeast, a region where patterns of speech are very indirect and lean heavily on idioms and metaphors.

I was in middle school before I figured out what was happening and did not get into trouble in that way anymore. I’m in my 40s now but I’m still a literal-first thinker. And yeah, I’m a programmer.

[-] tja@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 hours ago

So you would have done the same as the kid?

I would have done the same right now as an adult.

[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 2 points 7 hours ago

As a child, I'd probably get from context what was actually wanted since it probably complemented in-class lessons. But in primary school, I also sometimes liked to push the limits of what was asked. So I might do this and also put what was intended to the side.

this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
692 points (98.9% liked)

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