Urban planner Jane Jacobs proposed ______ approaches to city development in the 1960s, challenging conventional wisdom about neighborhood design in...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Urban planner Jane Jacobs proposed ______ approaches to city development in the 1960s, challenging conventional wisdom about neighborhood design in ways that eventually earned widespread recognition from municipal governments and planning professionals.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
conventional
tentative
groundbreaking
impractical
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Urban planner Jane Jacobs proposed _____ approaches to city development in the 1960s," |
|
| [MISSING WORD] |
|
| "challenging conventional wisdom about neighborhood design" |
|
| "in ways that eventually earned widespread recognition from municipal governments and planning professionals." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Jane Jacobs proposed approaches to city development that challenged existing ideas and ultimately gained wide acceptance.
Argument Flow: The sentence establishes Jacobs as an urban planner who proposed certain approaches, then describes how these approaches challenged conventional thinking, and finally shows they were successful by earning widespread recognition from professionals and government.
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 missing word needs to describe approaches that: challenged conventional wisdom (went against established thinking), eventually earned widespread recognition (became accepted and respected), were proposed by an urban planner in the 1960s
- The relationship here suggests something innovative or revolutionary - approaches that were different enough to challenge existing ideas but valuable enough to eventually gain recognition
conventional
- This directly contradicts the passage logic
- If her approaches were "conventional," they wouldn't be "challenging conventional wisdom"
- Creates a logical impossibility in the sentence
tentative
- Tentative suggests hesitant or uncertain approaches
- Doesn't fit with approaches that challenged established thinking
- Unlikely that tentative approaches would earn "widespread recognition"
groundbreaking
- Perfectly describes approaches that would challenge conventional wisdom
- Groundbreaking implies innovative and significant, which aligns with earning widespread recognition
- Creates logical flow: groundbreaking approaches challenge conventional wisdom and earn recognition
impractical
- Contradicts the final outcome of earning widespread recognition
- Municipal governments and professionals wouldn't recognize impractical approaches