Trick Questions

I love a good trick question. Questions posed with answers that aren’t what they seem. Some trick question authors manipulate a word, or doctor up a sentence in a way that sounds familiar, really testing a person comprehension skills.

Here is an example of a trick question:

A farmer has 17 sheep, and all but 9 run away. How many sheep does he have left?

Answer: The farmer has 9 sheep left. The phrase "all but 9 run away" means all the sheep except 9 run away, so the 9 that didn’t run away remain with the farmer. The trick lies in the wording "all but 9," which can be misread as implying a subtraction or a different number, but it simply means "except 9."