While city planners in the 1960s envisioned creating vibrant downtown districts through large-scale urban renewal projects, these ambitious developmen...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
While city planners in the 1960s envisioned creating vibrant downtown districts through large-scale urban renewal projects, these ambitious developments proved to be financially unfeasible without substantial government investment. _____ by the 1970s, many municipalities had shifted their focus to smaller, community-based revitalization efforts that required less capital.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Nevertheless,
As a result,
Furthermore,
Meanwhile,
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "While city planners in the 1960s envisioned creating vibrant downtown districts through large-scale urban renewal projects," |
|
| "these ambitious developments proved to be financially unfeasible without substantial government investment." |
|
| "by the 1970s, many municipalities had shifted their focus to smaller, community-based revitalization efforts that required less capital." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: When ambitious urban renewal projects proved too expensive, municipalities changed course to focus on smaller, more affordable community-based revitalization efforts.
Argument Flow: The passage presents a classic problem-solution structure. It establishes what city planners wanted to do in the 1960s, explains why their approach did not work (financial constraints), then shows how municipalities adapted by choosing a different, more financially realistic approach in the 1970s.
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 passage analysis, we have a clear cause-and-effect relationship
- The first part establishes that big urban renewal projects were financially unfeasible without substantial government investment
- The second part shows that municipalities shifted their focus to smaller, community-based revitalization efforts that required less capital
- The logical connection is: BECAUSE the big projects were too expensive, THEREFORE municipalities changed to cheaper alternatives
- We need a transition that signals this cause-and-effect relationship
Nevertheless,
✗ Incorrect
- Nevertheless signals contrast or contradiction - it means despite what was just said
- This would suggest municipalities shifted to smaller projects despite the financial problems, which does not make logical sense
- The shift actually happened because of the financial problems, not in spite of them
As a result,
✓ Correct
- As a result perfectly captures the cause-and-effect relationship we identified
- It shows that the financial unfeasibility directly caused the shift to smaller projects
- This matches our prethinking - the municipalities changed approaches as a direct consequence of the cost problems
Furthermore,
✗ Incorrect
- Furthermore means in addition to and signals continuation of the same idea
- This would suggest the shift to smaller projects was additional information about the 1960s plans
- But we are actually talking about a different time period (1970s) and a different approach entirely
Meanwhile,
✗ Incorrect
- Meanwhile indicates events happening at the same time
- The passage clearly shows a time progression from 1960s to 1970s, not simultaneous events
The answer is B.