Single correct option
There is a sentence missing from the paragraph below. Choose the option that best indicates where (marked 1, 2, 3, 4) it should be inserted.
Most cities size their stormwater drains according to historical rainfall records, on the assumption that past decades reliably predict future extremes. (1) As rainfall patterns shift under a changing climate, however, storms that once occurred once every fifty years are being recorded every ten or fifteen. (2) Drainage systems built to the old standard consequently flood far more often than their designers anticipated, even though nothing about the physical infrastructure itself has failed. (3) Retrofitting these systems is expensive and disruptive, since it usually requires digging up already-developed streets rather than building on open land. (4) Some cities have instead turned to distributed solutions, such as permeable pavement and small neighbourhood retention ponds, that reduce peak runoff without replacing the underlying pipe network.
Missing sentence: 'This assumption has increasingly been called into question by climate scientists tracking the frequency of extreme rainfall events.'
Most cities size their stormwater drains according to historical rainfall records, on the assumption that past decades reliably predict future extremes. (1) As rainfall patterns shift under a changing climate, however, storms that once occurred once every fifty years are being recorded every ten or fifteen. (2) Drainage systems built to the old standard consequently flood far more often than their designers anticipated, even though nothing about the physical infrastructure itself has failed. (3) Retrofitting these systems is expensive and disruptive, since it usually requires digging up already-developed streets rather than building on open land. (4) Some cities have instead turned to distributed solutions, such as permeable pavement and small neighbourhood retention ponds, that reduce peak runoff without replacing the underlying pipe network.
Missing sentence: 'This assumption has increasingly been called into question by climate scientists tracking the frequency of extreme rainfall events.'
- A. 1
- B. 2
- C. 3
- D. 4
Show answer and solution
Answer: (A) 1
The missing sentence directly challenges the 'assumption' named in the first sentence ('past decades reliably predict future extremes') and must appear right after it, before the paragraph moves into evidence of that assumption failing ('storms that once occurred once every fifty years...'). Placing it at position 1 creates the logical bridge: assumption stated, then challenged, then illustrated. Placing it later (2, 3, 4) would leave the assumption unchallenged for a full sentence, breaking the argument's flow.
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