Smaller businesses increasingly face pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, yet traditional offset programs present a significant barrier. Compani...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Smaller businesses increasingly face pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, yet traditional offset programs present a significant barrier. Companies typically must purchase credits from distant forestry projects, creating costs that many regional enterprises find prohibitively expensive. Environmental economists have identified a potential solution in this dilemma: locally-based carbon reduction initiatives represent a more ______ alternative, with community-scale renewable energy projects delivering equivalent emissions reductions at manageable expense levels.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
affordable
complex
delayed
restrictive
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Smaller businesses increasingly face pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, yet traditional offset programs present a significant barrier.' |
|
| 'Companies typically must purchase credits from distant forestry projects, creating costs that many regional enterprises find prohibitively expensive.' |
|
| 'Environmental economists have identified a potential solution in this dilemma:' |
|
| 'locally-based carbon reduction initiatives represent a more [MISSING WORD] alternative,' |
|
| 'with community-scale renewable energy projects delivering equivalent emissions reductions at manageable expense levels.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Local carbon reduction initiatives offer a better alternative to expensive traditional offset programs for smaller businesses.
Argument Flow: The passage presents a problem (small businesses face carbon pressure but traditional solutions are too expensive), then introduces economists solution (local initiatives), and supports this with details showing these local options deliver equivalent results at manageable costs.
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
- From our passage analysis, we know that traditional offset programs are 'prohibitively expensive' for many regional businesses, while the local alternative offers 'equivalent emissions reductions at manageable expense levels.'
- The blank comes right after 'represent a more alternative,' so we need a word that captures how local initiatives compare favorably to the expensive traditional programs.
- The key contrast is cost: traditional programs are too expensive, while local ones have manageable costs.
- So the right answer should describe local initiatives as being better in terms of cost or financial accessibility.
affordable
- 'Affordable' perfectly captures the cost advantage of local initiatives
- Directly contrasts with traditional programs being 'prohibitively expensive'
- Aligns with the supporting detail about 'manageable expense levels'
complex
- 'Complex' doesn't address the cost issue that the passage emphasizes
- Nothing in the passage suggests local initiatives are more complicated
- Misses the key contrast between expensive traditional programs and cost-effective local ones
delayed
- 'Delayed' has no connection to the passage's focus on cost and accessibility
- The passage doesn't mention anything about timing or implementation speed
- Fails to capture why local initiatives solve the barrier problem
restrictive
- 'Restrictive' suggests local initiatives have more limitations
- This contradicts the passage's presentation of local initiatives as a solution to barriers
- What trap this represents: Students might confuse 'local' with 'limited scope' but miss that the passage presents local options as removing barriers, not creating them