Ordering Five Sentences on Efficiency and Equity
Five sentences from a paragraph on efficiency and equity are printed in scrambled order. The student's order is A-D-C-B-E. The sentences are: A. Economists often distinguish between efficiency and equity. B. This distinction matters because the two goals can conflict. C. For one thing, a policy may increase total wealth while widening inequality. D. Yet they are not always in opposition; some policies improve both. E. Ultimately, the choice depends on which value a society prioritizes. The student says D must follow A because 'Yet' signals a contradiction immediately after the distinction, and that C must come after D because 'For one thing' introduces an example of agreement. The paragraph has no sentence that can be moved without breaking a reference or a connector.
1. Give the correct order and explain the two connector errors in the student's reasoning.
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Correct order: A-B-C-D-E.
A introduces the distinction. B's 'This distinction' refers to A and states why it matters: the goals can conflict. C's 'For one thing' then gives the first example of that conflict: wealth up, inequality wider. D's 'Yet' marks a concessive turn against C's conflict example: they are not always opposed. E's 'Ultimately' closes by naming the value choice.
The student errs twice. First, 'Yet' cannot follow A immediately because there is no preceding claim of opposition for 'yet' to contrast with; A merely distinguishes two terms. 'Yet' in D responds to C's conflict example. Second, 'For one thing' does not introduce agreement; it introduces a supporting instance of the immediately preceding claim. Since B claims conflict, C illustrates conflict, not agreement. The student has reversed the rhetorical function of both connectors.
2. Explain the references of 'they' in D and 'This distinction' in B. What would happen if C came before B?
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'They' in D refers to 'efficiency and equity,' the two goals named in B; the plural pronoun cannot refer to 'distinction' (singular) or to 'total wealth' and 'inequality' as a pair. 'This distinction' in B refers to the contrast between efficiency and equity introduced in A. It is a demonstrative NP, so its antecedent must be the immediately preceding distinction, not a later example.
If C came before B, 'For one thing' would have no prior claim to support. C would appear as an unsupported assertion, and B's 'This distinction' would still point back to A, but the paragraph would lose the causal link: A introduces the pair, B says they can conflict, C gives the first instance. The order A-B-C is therefore fixed by both the connector and the reference. D then qualifies C, and E concludes.