Skip to main contentSkip to solution

There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Paragraph: The first phase of globalization occurred long before the introduction of either steam or electric power...Chinese consumers at all social levels consumed vast quantities of spices, fragrant woods and unusual plants. The peoples of Southeast Asia who lived in forests gave up their traditional livelihoods and completely reoriented their economies to supply Chinese consumers ___ (1) ___ . These exchanges of the year 1000 opened some of the routes through which goods and peoples continued to travel after Columbus traversed the mid-Atlantic. ___ (2) ___ . Yet the world of 1000 differed from that of 1492 in important ways....the travellers who encountered one another in the year 1000 were much closer technologically. ___ (3) ___ . They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000. ___ (4) ___ . If globalization hadn't yet begun, Europeans wouldn't have been able to penetrate the markets in so many places as quickly as they did after 1492.

Sentence: The Europeans did not invent globalization.

Solution

✅ Correct Option: 1

From passage: "They changed and augmented what was already there since 1000"

This sentence talks about Europeans building on something that existed before -> perfect setup for saying they didn't invent globalization.


Elimination process:

🔴 Option 4 (Position 1) -> context-shift -> Paragraph is talking about Chinese consumers and Southeast Asian suppliers. Suddenly mentioning Europeans here makes no sense and breaks the flow.

🟠 Option 3 (Position 2) -> partial-fit -> Could work since it mentions Columbus, but the "Yet" after the gap signals a contrast that doesn't connect well with our sentence.

🟠 Option 2 (Position 4) -> redundant -> The idea that globalization already existed is repeated too much. The sentence after the gap already implies Europeans didn't start it.

🟢 Option 1 (Position 3) is correct -> Perfect logical flow: travelers in 1000 were close technologically -> Europeans didn't invent globalization -> they just changed what was already there since 1000. Creates a smooth explanation of how Europeans improved existing systems.

The sentence fits Position 3 because it explains how Europeans enhanced rather than created global trade networks.

Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Left arrow: Previous question
  • Right arrow: Next question
  • S key: Jump to solution
  • Q key: Jump to question