medium · SAT Reading & Writing

Linguist Dr. Sarah Chen notes that the 'Great Vowel Shift,' a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that occurred between 1400 and 1700, was not a sudden event but a gradual one. It also did not proceed at the same pace everywhere: some northern dialects preserved the older vowel sounds for centuries, while speakers in and around London took up the new pronunciations within a few generations. In that sense, southern speakers moved through the shift far ______ than their northern contemporaries did. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

1. More uniformly
2. More gradually
3. More rapidly
4. More reluctantly

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