While city planning professionals first rejected architect Christopher Alexander's pattern language methodology as overly abstract for real-world urba...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
While city planning professionals first rejected architect Christopher Alexander's pattern language methodology as overly abstract for real-world urban development, this professional opposition failed to ______ his resolve to create community-focused design strategies. Alexander's continued investigations eventually shaped urban planning initiatives across European and North American cities.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
discourage
validate
replicate
justify
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "While city planning professionals first rejected architect Christopher Alexander's pattern language methodology as overly abstract for real-world urban development," |
|
| [MISSING WORD] |
|
| "this professional opposition failed to _______ his resolve to create community-focused design strategies." |
|
| "Alexander's continued investigations eventually shaped urban planning initiatives across European and North American cities." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Despite professional rejection, Alexander maintained his resolve and ultimately influenced urban planning worldwide.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes a contrast structure - while professionals initially opposed Alexander's methodology, this opposition failed to have a negative impact on his determination, and he went on to achieve significant influence in urban planning.
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
- We know that professional opposition came first, but Alexander continued his work successfully
- The sentence structure "failed to _______ his resolve" tells us the missing word should describe what the opposition was trying to do to his resolve, but didn't succeed at doing
- Since opposition typically tries to weaken or stop someone's determination, we need a word that means something like "weaken," "undermine," or "stop" his resolve
discourage
- "Discourage" means to try to prevent or weaken someone's resolve
- This fits perfectly - professional opposition would naturally try to discourage his resolve
- The contrast structure makes sense: opposition failed to discourage him, so he continued
validate
- "Validate" means to confirm or support something as worthwhile
- This creates an illogical relationship - opposition wouldn't try to validate his resolve
replicate
- "Replicate" means to copy or reproduce something
- Opposition can't replicate someone else's resolve - this doesn't make logical sense
justify
- "Justify" means to provide reasons or evidence for something
- Opposition wouldn't try to justify his resolve - they'd more likely try to undermine it