Call-and-response patterns, pentatonic scales, and emotional storytelling link the American blues tradition to West African musical practices. The blu...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Call-and-response patterns, pentatonic scales, and emotional storytelling link the American blues tradition to West African musical practices. The blues maintains strong _______ these ancestral forms, even though the traditions developed independently. Both musical systems separately evolved similar approaches for expressing community experiences and personal struggles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
examples of
connections to
reactions against
influences from
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Call-and-response patterns, pentatonic scales, and emotional storytelling link the American blues tradition to West African musical practices." |
|
| "The blues maintains strong ______ these ancestral forms," |
|
| "even though the traditions developed independently." |
|
| "Both musical systems separately evolved similar approaches for expressing community experiences and personal struggles." |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: American blues and West African musical practices share fundamental similarities despite developing independently.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that blues connects to West African practices through specific musical elements, then clarifies that blues maintains some relationship with these ancestral forms even though both traditions developed separately, and concludes by explaining how this independent evolution still produced similar approaches to musical expression.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The missing word needs to show that blues has an ongoing relationship with these ancestral West African forms, but one that acknowledges their separate development
- It should be something that can be "maintained" and that makes sense with "these ancestral forms"
examples of
- This would mean blues are examples of West African forms
- Contradicts the passage's emphasis on independent development
connections to
- Creates the logical relationship the passage needs
- Works perfectly with "maintains" - you can maintain connections
- Acknowledges the linking mentioned in the first sentence while allowing for independent development
reactions against
- This would contradict the entire passage premise about linking and similarities
- Creates opposition rather than the relationship established
influences from
- While this could seem plausible, it's less precise than "connections to"
- The passage emphasizes independent development, making direct "influences from" less accurate