Numerical answer
Five sentences related to a common theme are given below. Four of them can be sequenced into a coherent paragraph, while one does not fit. Identify the sentence that does NOT fit (enter its number).
1. Microfinance was once hailed as a near-universal solution to rural poverty, offering small loans to entrepreneurs excluded from formal banking.
2. Randomized studies conducted across several countries in the 2010s found that access to microloans modestly increased business investment but had little measurable effect on household income or consumption.
3. Formal banks in these same regions have historically required collateral that most rural borrowers simply do not possess.
4. This mismatch between the early rhetoric and the later evidence prompted a more measured reassessment of what microfinance can and cannot achieve.
5. Proponents now tend to describe microfinance as one useful tool among many for financial inclusion, rather than as a standalone cure for poverty.
1. Microfinance was once hailed as a near-universal solution to rural poverty, offering small loans to entrepreneurs excluded from formal banking.
2. Randomized studies conducted across several countries in the 2010s found that access to microloans modestly increased business investment but had little measurable effect on household income or consumption.
3. Formal banks in these same regions have historically required collateral that most rural borrowers simply do not possess.
4. This mismatch between the early rhetoric and the later evidence prompted a more measured reassessment of what microfinance can and cannot achieve.
5. Proponents now tend to describe microfinance as one useful tool among many for financial inclusion, rather than as a standalone cure for poverty.
Show answer and solution
Answer: 3
Sentences 1, 2, 4 and 5 trace a coherent arc: microfinance's early promise, the disappointing evidence, and the resulting reassessment. Sentence 3, about formal banks' collateral requirements, is a background fact that does not fit the paragraph's narrative arc about microfinance's rise and reassessment; it interrupts rather than advances the sequence.
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