16Hit1600
Craft and StructureHardAdjective fixed by a dramatic change

Craft and Structure practice question

The 1849 discovery was ____ for the region: within a decade its population had grown from a few hundred to more than a hundred thousand.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

  1. A. pivotalCorrect
  2. B. trivial
  3. C. gradual
  4. D. disputed

Answer: A. pivotal

An event after which everything changed — a hundredfold growth in a decade — is 'pivotal', a turning point.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. trivial
'Trivial' is the opposite of an event that transformed a region.
C. gradual
'Gradual' contradicts a hundredfold change within a decade, and it describes a process, not a discovery.
D. disputed
Nothing in the sentence suggests disagreement about the discovery.

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