Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardContrast and Reversal Clues

Which of the following vocabulary words best completes the sentence to satisfy the structural contrast established in the text?

Despite the prevailing consensus among economic historians that nineteenth-century parish tax registries were far too sparse to support statistical modeling, the researcher’s recent quantitative analysis demonstrated that these seemingly ________ records actually provided a remarkably comprehensive picture of agrarian wealth distribution.

  1. piecemealAnswer
  2. B
    exhaustive
  3. C
    rigorous
  4. D
    fraudulent
  5. E
    authentic

Answer

The word 'piecemeal' is the correct answer because it directly contrasts with 'remarkably comprehensive' to fulfill the structural reversal dictated by 'Despite' and 'seemingly... actually'.
The sentence relies on the contrast signal 'Despite' and the modifier pair 'seemingly... actually' to establish an opposition between how the tax records appeared ('sparse') and what they truly delivered ('a remarkably comprehensive picture'). The word 'piecemeal', meaning partial, unsystematic, or fragmentary, perfectly fits the blank by describing records that seem disjointed yet reveal thorough insights.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify structural transition signals in the sentence stem.
The initial concession marker 'Despite' combined with the paired contrast framed by 'seemingly ________... actually provided a remarkably comprehensive' indicates that the blank must contain a word opposite in meaning to 'comprehensive'.
Contrast signals mandate a semantic polarity shift between the initial description of the records and their actual utility.
2
Determine the required semantic valence and definition for the blank.
The target word must describe data that appears fragmentary, incomplete, or sparse.
The sentence specifies that historians previously thought the registries were 'far too sparse', so the blank must reflect this perceived lack of wholeness.
3
Evaluate the choices against the required meaning.
'Piecemeal' accurately captures the sense of partial or unsystematic records, contrasting cleanly with 'comprehensive'. Other options either ignore the reversal pivot or introduce unrelated concepts like dishonesty.
Only 'piecemeal' satisfies both the contextual clue of sparsity and the structural reversal.

Key Concept

Identifying Contrast and Reversal Structural Clues
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Rate this question

Topics

Contrast and Reversal Clues

More questions from this topic