Question

Is an element that is soft and easy to cut cleanly with a knife likely to be a metal or a nonmetal?

Answer 1

The substance is likely to be a metal.

Metals consist of a lattice structure with layers on top of one another. Due to this, pure metals are very ductile and malleable due to the slipping of the layers over one another. The softness and clean cuts are not possible with non-metals because they usually have rigid and brittle structures.