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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: Early in this century a young Breton schoolboy who preparing himself for a scientific career began to notice a strange fact about hens in his father's poultry yard ___ (1) ___ . As they scratched the soil they constantly seemed to be pecking at specks of mica, a siliceous material dotting the ground ___ (2) ___ . No one could explain to Louis Kervran why the chickens selected the mica, or why each time a bird was killed for the family cooking pot no trace of the mica could be found in its gizzard ___ (3) ___ . It took Kervran many years to establish that the chickens were transmuting one element into another ___ (4) ___ .

Sentence: Yet each day the flock produced eggs with calcareous shells though they apparently had not ingested any calcium from land which was entirely lacking in limestone.

Solution

βœ… Correct Option: 3

Look for where a sentence starting with "Yet" fits best -> need to find a spot where there's a contrast or mystery set up first.

From passage: "No one could explain to Louis Kervran why the chickens selected the mica, or why each time a bird was killed for the family cooking pot no trace of the mica could be found in its gizzard"

The key is understanding what "Yet" means -> it shows something surprising or opposite to what was just said.

Step-by-step thinking process:

  • Chickens eat mica (a siliceous material) -> but no mica found in their stomachs when killed
  • This creates a mystery about what happens to the mica
  • "Yet" sentence adds another puzzle -> somehow these chickens still make calcium-rich egg shells even though there's no limestone (calcium source) in the ground
  • This sets up the perfect contrast for the final revelation about transmutation

πŸ”΄ Option 1 (Position 1): scope-error -> too early in the paragraph, no mystery or contrast has been set up yet for "Yet" to work against.

🟠 Option 2 (Position 2): partial-truth -> mentions mica eating which could contrast, but the sentence flows better continuing with the mica description rather than jumping to calcium shells.

🟒 Option 3 (Position 3): perfect fit -> sets up the complete mystery (chickens eat mica, no mica in stomach, YET they make calcium shells without calcium source) before revealing the transmutation answer.

πŸ”΄ Option 4 (Position 4): context-shift -> comes after the solution is revealed about transmutation, so adding "Yet" about the calcium mystery doesn't make sense anymore.

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