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Difficulty: Very hardInterpreting Contrast and Concession Structural Signals

For all the lead investigator's insistence that the recently unearthed fossils represented a revolutionary paradigm shift in hominin lineage, senior paleobiologists maintained that the finds were merely __________ occurrences, contributing little of foundational significance to the established evolutionary timeline. Which TWO of the following answer choices, when inserted into the blank, produce completed sentences that are logically equivalent and coherent?

  1. peripheralAnswer
  2. B
    epochal
  3. tangentialAnswer
  4. D
    anomalous
  5. E
    momentous
  6. F
    dubious

Answer

The correct options are 'peripheral' and 'tangential'.
The concessionary phrase 'For all...' creates a structural contrast between the lead investigator's belief that the fossil find was a 'revolutionary paradigm shift' and the senior paleobiologists' view that the find contributed little. Thus, the blank requires words that mean non-essential, minor, or secondary. The options 'peripheral' and 'tangential' both appropriately express that the discoveries were of minor relevance to the main evolutionary model, producing logically equivalent sentences.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the sentence structure and identify key structural signals.
The phrase 'For all...' acts as a concession signal meaning 'despite' or 'in spite of'. It establishes a contrast between the lead investigator's assertion and the stance of the senior paleobiologists.
Recognizing concession signals is necessary to determine the direction of logical shift between clauses.
2
Determine the required target meaning for the blank.
The lead investigator claims the fossils are 'a revolutionary paradigm shift'. The contrast signal combined with 'contributing little of foundational significance' requires words meaning secondary, minor, or incidental.
The blank must oppose 'revolutionary paradigm shift' and align with 'contributing little'.
3
Evaluate the option choices to find a pair of synonymous words fitting the target meaning.
'Peripheral' and 'tangential' both mean secondary or incidental, creating two sentences with equivalent meaning.
Sentence Equivalence requires selecting two choices that produce coherent sentences with identical meanings.

Key Concept

Interpreting Concession Signals in Sentence Equivalence
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Topics

Interpreting Contrast and Concession Structural Signals

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