Difficulty: Medium
Correct Answer: YZX
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This item is another example of a sentence arrangement question that tests your understanding of word order, correlative conjunctions, and logical flow in English. The beginning of the sentence mentions buying capacity and then goes on to contrast that with concerns about environment and health. The fragments X, Y, and Z must be placed in the right sequence to respect the correlative structure not only but also and to produce a smooth and meaningful sentence about people living in a city. To solve such questions, you need to pay attention to how phrases naturally connect and how correlative pairs work in English grammar.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The key to this question lies in identifying the correlative pair not only and also. The phrase not only is usually followed by the first idea, and also introduces the second, related idea. In this sentence, the first idea is buying capacity in the city, and the second idea is concern about environment and health. Therefore, we should arrange fragments so that buying capacity in the city follows not only people have buying and also quite concerned about is placed before environment and health. That suggests placing fragment Y immediately after buying, fragment Z after the comma, and fragment X at the end. This order preserves both meaning and grammatical structure.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Verification / Alternative check:
To verify, read the full reconstructed sentence: Not only people have buying capacity in the city, people here are also quite concerned about environment and health. Although a small stylistic improvement would be to add the article the before people, the internal structure clearly shows the correct logical relationship. Now test another order, for example X Z Y. That would give a structure like Not only people have buying environment and health also quite concerned about capacity in the city, people here are, which is illogical and ungrammatical. Similarly, Y X Z breaks the correlative pattern by placing environment and health directly after buying capacity, and leaving also quite concerned about hanging at the end without an object. Therefore, only YZX delivers a clear contrast between financial ability and concern for environment and health in a way that respects the not only but also structure.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option YXZ places environment and health directly after buying capacity without the linking phrase also quite concerned about, which ruins the contrast between the two ideas. Option XZY starts with environment and health after buying, making the phrase buying environment and health, which is nonsensical. Option XYZ gives Not only people have buying environment and health capacity in the city, people here are also quite concerned about, which has no clear object after about and is syntactically broken. Option ZXY starts with also quite concerned about after buying, but then lacks a clear first idea to contrast and breaks the correlative pattern. All these options fail to deliver a smooth, grammatically correct sentence.
Common Pitfalls:
One common pitfall is ignoring correlative conjunctions and focusing only on meaning fragments. Many learners try to order the fragments based purely on theme and forget that not only must be balanced by also. Another error is not checking the object of prepositions like about, which helps identify where a phrase such as environment and health should go. To avoid such mistakes, always mark correlative pairs and ensure that each part of the pair introduces one of the two main ideas. Also, confirm that every preposition has a clear object and that no phrase is left incomplete at the end of the sentence.
Final Answer:
The correct and most logical order of the labelled fragments is YZX.
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