Question
Answer: 2314. Sentence 2 introduces the critical view of economists. Sentence 3 contrasts physicists, sharpening the picture. Sentence 1 reverses the critic’s framing (“This habit of post- ponement, however, is rarely an admission of inadequacy”), where the demonstrative “this” points back to qualification implicit in 2 and 3. Sentence 4 closes by articulating the general principle: a discipline that cannot isolate variables must qualify. The conceptual sequence is critique → contrast → reversal of the critique → general principle. Tempting alternative 2134 puts the reversal before the contrast, which leaves “this habit of postponement” without the sharpening that the physicist comparison provides.
Detailed solution
Q22. Answer: 2314. Sentence 2 introduces the critical view of economists. Sentence 3 contrasts physicists, sharpening the picture. Sentence 1 reverses the critic’s framing (“This habit of post- ponement, however, is rarely an admission of inadequacy”), where the demonstrative “this” points back to qualification implicit in 2 and 3. Sentence 4 closes by articulating the general principle: a discipline that cannot isolate variables must qualify. The conceptual sequence is critique → contrast → reversal of the critique → general principle. Tempting alternative 2134 puts the reversal before the contrast, which leaves “this habit of postponement” without the sharpening that the physicist comparison provides.