Claims about a new dietary supplement's ability to improve memory function in elderly patients have generated significant controversy. When independen...

GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions

Source: Prism

Craft and Structure

Words in Context

EASY

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Notes

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Claims about a new dietary supplement's ability to improve memory function in elderly patients have generated significant controversy. When independent researchers attempted to replicate the original study, they could not ______ the reported findings, leading the scientific community to largely reject these claims.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

interpret

confirm

relate

accommodate

Solution

Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage

Part A: Passage Analysis Table

Text from Passage	Analysis
"Claims about a new dietary supplement's ability to improve memory function in elderly patients have generated significant controversy."	What it says: New supplement claims memory boost in elderly, controversy resulted What it does: Introduces the controversial claims being discussed What it is: Context/background
"When independent researchers attempted to replicate the original study, they could not"	What it says: Independent researchers tried to replicate, could not What it does: Presents the replication attempt and its failure What it is: Evidence/event
[MISSING WORD/PHRASE]	What it is: Missing logical connector
"the reported findings, leading the scientific community to largely reject these claims."	What it says: Findings led scientific community to reject claims What it does: Shows the consequence of the replication failure What it is: Outcome/conclusion

Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely

This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.

Step 3: Prethink the Answer

Looking at the context, we have independent researchers trying to replicate a study but they "could not _____ the reported findings."
The consequence is that the scientific community rejected the claims.
The logical flow is: researchers tried to replicate, they could not do something with the findings, so the claims were rejected.
What would researchers need to do with findings in a replication study? They would need to verify them, validate them, or support them.
Since they could not do this, and the result was rejection of the claims, the missing word should indicate something like "verify" or "validate."

Answer Choices Explained

interpret

✗ Incorrect

"Interpret" means to explain or understand the meaning of something
This does not fit the context because the issue is not that researchers could not understand the findings, but that they could not validate them through replication

confirm

✓ Correct

"Confirm" means to verify or validate something as true
This fits perfectly - when researchers tried to replicate the study, they could not confirm the original findings
This explains why the scientific community rejected the claims

relate

✗ Incorrect

"Relate" means to connect or show a relationship between things
This does not make sense in context - the issue is not about connecting findings to something else

accommodate

✗ Incorrect

"Accommodate" means to adapt to or make room for something
This does not fit the scientific context of replication studies

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