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Difficulty: MediumSecondary Meanings of Common Words

Early conservationists in the late nineteenth century feared that the unregulated expansion of steam-powered timber mills would consume the surrounding forest entirely. However, the unexpected onset of a national economic depression served to check the industry’s rapid growth. With investment capital suddenly scarce, logging companies were forced to halt their plans to lay down new railroad lines into the valley's pristine interior. This sudden pause in industrial development allowed the local vegetation to recover, demonstrating that ecological preservation can sometimes result from market failures rather than deliberate policy.

As it is used in the passage, the word "check" most nearly means which of the following?

  1. A
    inspect
  2. restrainAnswer
  3. C
    record
  4. D
    promote

Answer

restrain
The correct answer is the option stating "restrain." In this context, the economic depression acted as a barrier that slowed or stopped the expansion of the timber mills. The passage notes that companies had to "halt their plans" and that there was a "sudden pause," which directly supports the definition of holding back or limiting progress.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the sentence in which the word "check" appears.
The sentence states that the "unexpected onset of a national economic depression served to check the industry’s rapid growth."
Understanding the immediate sentence context is the first step to determining the word's meaning.
2
Examine the surrounding sentences for context clues that explain what happened to the industry's growth.
The next sentence explains that "companies were forced to halt their plans to lay down new railroad lines," leading to a "sudden pause in industrial development."
Context clues like "halt" and "pause" indicate that the depression stopped or limited the growth of the industry.
3
Substitute the options into the sentence to see which one maintains the author's intended meaning.
Substituting "restrain" perfectly captures the idea of holding back or stopping the progress of the industry's growth, aligning with the context clues.
Substitution verifies that the chosen meaning is both grammatically correct and semantically accurate.

Key Concept

Identifying the secondary meaning of a common word in a passage by utilizing surrounding context clues.
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Secondary Meanings of Common Words

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