Question

Difficulty: MediumSentence Reordering and Placement

The following paragraph contains numbered sentences:

[1] In 1885, a young farmer named Wilson Bentley attached a bellows camera to a microscope in his drafty shed in Jericho, Vermont. [2] The process was painstakingly slow, requiring him to capture the ice crystals on black velvet before they melted. [3] Over his lifetime, Bentley photographed more than 5,000 snowflakes, discovering that no two were exactly alike. [4] Through these delicate images, he became the first person to document the intricate, hexagonal structures of individual snow crystals. [5] Indeed, he spent years refining this technique of photomicrography, adapting his equipment to withstand the freezing temperatures.

For the sake of the logic and cohesion of this paragraph, Sentence 5 should be placed:

  1. A
    where it is now.
  2. after Sentence 1.Answer
  3. C
    after Sentence 2.
  4. D
    after Sentence 3.

Answer

after Sentence 1.
Placing the sentence after Sentence 1 is correct because the phrase 'this technique of photomicrography' refers back to the action of attaching a camera to a microscope described in Sentence 1. This sequence establishes a clear relationship between the invention of the technique and the years spent refining it, before describing the slow process of capturing the images in Sentence 2.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the target sentence (Sentence 5) for logical and transitional clues.
The target sentence contains the phrase 'this technique of photomicrography,' which indicates a specific photographic technique must be introduced prior to this sentence.
Identifying demonstrative adjectives like 'this' helps locate the antecedent or description of the technique in the paragraph.
2
Scan the paragraph to find where the photographic technique is first described.
Sentence 1 describes Bentley attaching a bellows camera to a microscope. This is the definition and demonstration of the 'technique of photomicrography.'
Establishing this connection shows that Sentence 5 must follow Sentence 1 to maintain logical continuity.
3
Evaluate the flow of the entire paragraph with the new placement.
Placing Sentence 5 after Sentence 1 groups the technical description of the equipment and its refinement together. Sentence 2 then describes the slow process of using this refined technique, followed by Sentence 3 and 4, which transition to Bentley's lifetime results and legacy.
Checking the flow ensures the paragraph progresses chronologically and conceptually.

Key Concept

Sentence Reordering and Placement
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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