Historians disagree about whether the detailed cargo descriptions in merchants' letters outweigh the letters' patchy survival. Advocates of letter-based reconstruction maintain that broad tax-ledger categories obscure distinct commercial networks. _____ in ports with unusually complete correspondence, letters can separate voyages carrying glazed tableware from those carrying roof tiles. Collections this complete are rare and unevenly distributed, so success within them provides little basis for comparing traffic volume across ports. Historian Leila Okafor therefore uses tax ledgers, which cover nearly every arriving ship, for baseline route estimates and consults letters only when enough correspondence survives to refine a cargo classification.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For difficult transition questions, track which position each sentence supports and examine how the sentence functions in the entire argument, not just how it relates to the nearest phrase. In particular, distinguish a limited concession that will later be qualified from a transition that directly opposes, restates, or derives a result from the preceding claim.
Hints
Track the sides of the disagreement
Determine whether the sentence immediately after the blank supports or challenges the advocates of letter-based reconstruction.
Read beyond the blank
Consider why the passage follows the example of unusually complete correspondence with a statement about how rare such collections are.
Identify the rhetorical direction
Distinguish between a transition that admits a limited point before qualifying it and one that introduces opposition to the preceding claim.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the competing positions
Advocates of letter-based reconstruction argue that tax ledgers’ broad categories can conceal distinct commercial networks. Okafor ultimately relies primarily on ledgers because letters survive unevenly.
Determine what the sentence after the blank does
The sentence about ports with unusually complete correspondence supports the advocates’ position: in those limited cases, letters really can distinguish between different ceramic wares.
Use the following sentence to determine the scope
The next sentence limits the significance of that advantage. Because unusually complete collections are rare and unevenly distributed, their success cannot justify using letters to compare traffic across many ports.
Choose the precise transition
The blank must introduce an admission that the advocates have a valid point in restricted circumstances before the passage explains why that point does not overturn Okafor’s broader method. “Granted” performs this concessive function.