Comprehension: In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read…

Concept: In a cloze passage a blank is filled by the word that satisfies two constraints at the same time — the grammatical frame around the blank, which fixes the word class and the kind of object the verb may take, and the discourse constraint set by the neighbouring sentences, which fixes the meaning and the polarity the word must carry.

A correlative pair such as "not only X but also Y" adds a third constraint: Y must be grammatically parallel to X and consistent with it in sense, so a harmful act named in X requires another act of the same kind in Y.

Application: The sentence carrying blank 4 reads, "The whites not only displaced the tribes off their homeland but also (4) _______ the beauty and balance of the natural world." The three constraints apply as follows.

1. Word class: the blank follows "but also" and stands parallel to the past-tense verb "displaced", so it must itself be a past-tense transitive verb.

2. Object type: its direct object is "the beauty and balance of the natural world", an abstract quality — not a physical height, not a resource put to work, and not a living being.

3. Sense and polarity: the first half of the correlative reports harm done by the whites, so the second half must report a further harmful act by the same subject.

4. Corroboration from the passage: the next sentence speaks of "an increase in deforestation and destruction of traditional land", naming the very act the blank calls for.

Cross-check: reading each candidate into the frame gives the following.

The candidate that satisfies the word class, the abstract object and the harmful sense demanded by "not only ... but also" is destroyed.