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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: My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news ___ (1) ___ . For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned. Stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined. Told we ought to be morning larks. Advised to go to bed early so we can wake before 5am and run a marathon before breakfast like all high-flyers seem to do. Now, however, we are having the last laugh ___ (2) ___ .It may be a tad more complicated than that. A study published last week, which you may have already seen while scrolling at lam, suggests that staying up late could be good for brain power ___ (3) ___ .Is this study a thinly veiled PR exercise conducted by a caffeine-pill company? Nope, it's legit ___ (4) ___ . Research led by academics at Imperial College London studied data on more than 26,000 people and found that “self-declared 'night owls' generally tend to have higher cognitive scores".

Sentence: Science has officially crowned us superior to our early-rising brethren.

Solution

✅ Correct Option: 1

From passage: "My fellow night owls, grab a strong cup of coffee and gather around: I have great news ___ (1) ___. For a long time, our kind has been unfairly maligned... Now, however, we are having the last laugh ___ (2) ___."

The sentence announces that science has declared night owls superior -> this is clearly the "great news" mentioned at the start -> it explains why night owls can now have the last laugh.

The flow works like this: Introduction -> Great news announcement -> Insert sentence here -> "Now we're having the last laugh" makes perfect sense as a result.


🟢 Position 2 -> Perfect fit -> "Science has officially crowned us superior..." provides the exact claim that the next sentence qualifies -> "It may be a tad more complicated than that." Here, "that" clearly refers to the sweeping claim of superiority, making the transition smooth and logical.

🟡 Position 1 -> Tempting but weaker -> It completes the "great news" announcement, but later the sentence "It may be a tad more complicated than that." is left without a clear antecedent, making the transition less coherent.

🔴 Position 3 -> Context mismatch -> The passage has already moved on to discussing the study's findings. Inserting the celebratory claim here interrupts the explanation of the research.

🔴 Position 4 -> Too late -> By this point, the passage is confirming the study's credibility. The declaration of "superiority" is no longer appropriate, as the discussion has shifted from the claim to the evidence.

The sentence is immediately qualified by "It may be a tad more complicated than that.", so it should appear just before it. This creates the strongest logical connection and gives "that" a clear referent.

Answer: Position 2

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