The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell's 1912 short story Out There. An elderly shop owner is looking at...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell's 1912 short story Out There. An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell.
It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the-way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. 'Don't belong in here,' he fumed.
And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To reveal the shop owner's conflicted feelings about the new picture
To convey the shop owner's resentment of the person he got the new picture from
To describe the items that the shop owner most highly prizes
To explain differences between the new picture and other pictures in the shop
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop.' |
|
| 'A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song.' |
|
| 'It was only a little out-of-the-way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures.' |
|
| 'The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape.' |
|
| ''Don't belong in here,' he fumed.' |
|
| 'And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition.' |
|
| 'There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: The shop owner has conflicted feelings about a new picture that doesn't fit his shop—he's frustrated it doesn't belong but secretly proud to own it.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
- What's being asked? The question asks for the main purpose of the entire text
- What type of answer do we need? We need to identify the central, overarching reason the passage exists
- Any limiting keywords? Main purpose requires focus on primary intent
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The passage is fundamentally about showing us the shop owner's internal conflict
- We see his frustration ('Don't belong in here') immediately followed by the revelation that he's 'secretly proud' of the picture
- The right answer should capture this central tension between his surface irritation and his underlying pride
To reveal the shop owner's conflicted feelings about the new picture
✓ Correct
Perfectly captures the central conflict between frustration and secret pride
To convey the shop owner's resentment of the person he got the new picture from
✗ Incorrect
The passage mentions the seller only briefly as background context
To describe the items that the shop owner most highly prizes
✗ Incorrect
The usual pictures are just mentioned as contrast, not as the main focus
To explain differences between the new picture and other pictures in the shop
✗ Incorrect
The differences are setup for the real story about his internal conflict