Mary Ellen Pleasant, a successful entrepreneur during the gold rush era, earned the moniker 'Mother of Human Rights in California'...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
Mary Ellen Pleasant, a successful entrepreneur during the gold rush era, earned the moniker 'Mother of Human Rights in California' after successfully challenging discrimination in the state. ________ in 1866, she sued a streetcar company for denying her and other Black riders service, a suit she eventually won when the California Supreme Court declared it illegal for carriers to exclude passengers based on race.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For this reason,
Then,
In addition,
Specifically,
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Mary Ellen Pleasant, a successful entrepreneur during the gold rush era, earned the moniker 'Mother of Human Rights in California' after successfully challenging discrimination in the state." |
|
| ________ |
|
| "in 1866, she sued a streetcar company for denying her and other Black riders service, a suit she eventually won when the California Supreme Court declared it illegal for carriers to exclude passengers based on race." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map:
[GENERAL REPUTATION] Mary Ellen Pleasant = "Mother of Human Rights" for challenging discrimination → [MISSING CONNECTOR] → [SPECIFIC EXAMPLE] 1866 streetcar lawsuit → victory → legal precedent
Main Point: Mary Ellen Pleasant earned her reputation as the "Mother of Human Rights in California" through concrete legal victories like her successful 1866 lawsuit against streetcar discrimination.
Argument Flow: The passage moves from Pleasant's general reputation as a civil rights pioneer to a specific, concrete example that demonstrates exactly how she earned that reputation through legal action.
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 our analysis, we have a general statement about Pleasant earning her reputation for challenging discrimination, followed by a specific example of exactly how she did this - the 1866 streetcar lawsuit
- The transition needs to signal that we're about to get a concrete example that illustrates the general claim we just read
- The relationship here is from general to specific - we're moving from "she challenged discrimination" to "here's exactly what that looked like in practice"
- We need a word that signals we're providing a specific instance or example
- So the right answer should indicate that what follows is a specific example or concrete illustration of the general reputation mentioned before the blank
For this reason,
✗ Incorrect - Suggests cause-and-effect relationship
- Implies the lawsuit happened because of her reputation, when actually her reputation came from actions like the lawsuit
- Reverses the logical flow
Then,
✗ Incorrect - Indicates chronological sequence or next step in time
- Doesn't capture the general-to-specific relationship we need
- Makes it sound like this happened after earning her reputation, when this lawsuit was part of how she earned it
In addition,
✗ Incorrect - Suggests we're adding another separate point
- Doesn't show that the lawsuit is an example of the discrimination-challenging mentioned before
- Treats the lawsuit as additional information rather than supporting evidence
Specifically,
✓ Correct - Perfectly signals that we're about to get a concrete example
- Shows that the 1866 lawsuit illustrates exactly what "challenging discrimination" looked like
- Creates the logical general-to-specific flow that matches our passage structure