Endangered dialects of the Karen language family are spoken by communities in the mountainous border regions of Myanmar and Thailand....
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Endangered dialects of the Karen language family are spoken by communities in the mountainous border regions of Myanmar and Thailand. Linguists recognize these dialects as essential for understanding the language's historical development. Documentation projects have been difficult to implement because these speech communities are so _______ major funding priorities that academic institutions and research centers have limited resources available.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
connected to
isolated from
competitive with
supported by
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Endangered dialects of the Karen language family are spoken by communities in the mountainous border regions of Myanmar and Thailand.' |
|
| 'Linguists recognize these dialects as essential for understanding the language's historical development.' |
|
| 'Documentation projects have been difficult to implement because these speech communities are so' |
|
| [MISSING WORD/PHRASE] |
|
| 'major funding priorities that academic institutions and research centers have limited resources available.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Endangered Karen dialects are linguistically important but difficult to document due to funding resource limitations.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes the geographic and linguistic context of endangered Karen dialects, validates their scholarly importance, then explains the practical barrier to studying them.
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 sentence structure is 'these speech communities are so _____ major funding priorities that academic institutions have limited resources available.'
- This is a cause-and-effect relationship where the blank describes how these communities relate to funding priorities
- This relationship results in limited resources being available for documentation projects
- The right answer should describe a relationship where these communities are disconnected from or not part of major funding priorities
- This would naturally result in limited resources being allocated to them
connected to
✗ Incorrect
- If communities were connected to major funding priorities, institutions would have ample resources for them
- This contradicts the 'limited resources available' result
- Creates an illogical cause-effect relationship
isolated from
✓ Correct
- If communities are isolated from major funding priorities, institutions naturally focus resources elsewhere
- This directly explains why limited resources are available for documentation projects
- Creates perfect logical flow: isolated from priorities → limited resources allocated
- Matches our prethinking about communities being disconnected from funding priorities
competitive with
✗ Incorrect
- This suggests communities compete against funding priorities for resources
- Creates an awkward, unclear relationship
- The grammar does not support communities competing 'with' priorities
supported by
✗ Incorrect
- If communities were supported by major funding priorities, resources would be abundant
- Directly contradicts the limited resources outcome
- Creates the opposite logical relationship from what is needed