Dr. Martinez's longitudinal research on urban development patterns examines how city planning has evolved over time. Her comprehensive study _____...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Dr. Martinez's longitudinal research on urban development patterns examines how city planning has evolved over time. Her comprehensive study _____ six decades, analyzing municipal records from the 1960s through the present day to trace changing approaches to zoning and infrastructure.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
encompasses
contradicts
dismisses
interrupts
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Dr. Martinez's longitudinal research on urban development patterns examines how city planning has evolved over time.' |
|
| 'Her comprehensive study ______ six decades,' |
|
| 'analyzing municipal records from the 1960s through the present day to trace changing approaches to zoning and infrastructure.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Dr. Martinez conducts long-term research on urban development by analyzing decades of municipal records to understand how city planning has changed.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces Dr. Martinez's research focus, then describes the temporal scope of her study (with a missing connector), and finally explains her specific methodology of using historical records to track changes in city planning approaches.
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
- The blank comes after 'Her comprehensive study' and before 'six decades.'
- Looking at the context, we know this is a longitudinal study that 'analyzes municipal records from the 1960s through the present day.'
- This suggests the study covers or includes this entire time period.
- The right answer should indicate that the study covers or includes the six-decade time span.
encompasses
- 'Encompasses' means to include or cover completely.
- This perfectly matches the context - a longitudinal study that analyzes records from the 1960s to present would encompass six decades.
contradicts
- 'Contradicts' means to oppose or go against something.
- Makes no logical sense - a study cannot oppose a time period.
dismisses
- 'Dismisses' means to reject or disregard.
- Illogical - the study actually uses records from these decades, so it wouldn't dismiss them.
interrupts
- 'Interrupts' means to break or stop something.
- Makes no sense - a study cannot interrupt a time period.