Following the Mata Ortiz pottery technique, Mexican sculptor Juan Quezada Celado starts by creating the base of the pot with...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
Following the Mata Ortiz pottery technique, Mexican sculptor Juan Quezada Celado starts by creating the base of the pot with a slab of clay. ______ he builds the pot walls by layering coils of clay around the perimeter of the base. Celado then smooths out the pot's walls with a hacksaw blade. At last, the pot is ready to be painted.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Following the Mata Ortiz pottery technique, Mexican sculptor Juan Quezada Celado starts by creating the base of the pot with a slab of clay." |
|
| [MISSING TRANSITION] |
|
| "he builds the pot walls by layering coils of clay around the perimeter of the base." |
|
| "Celado then smooths out the pot's walls with a hacksaw blade." |
|
| "At last, the pot is ready to be painted." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: The passage describes Juan Quezada Celado's step-by-step pottery-making process using the Mata Ortiz technique.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces Celado and his pottery technique, then walks through his process chronologically from creating the base to preparing for painting, with each step building logically on the previous one to complete the pot.
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
- Looking at our table, we can see that the sentence before the blank describes the first step (creating the base), and the sentence after describes the second step (building walls)
- The missing transition needs to show that we're moving from one step to the next in this sequential process
- The right relationship here is continuation of a sequence - we're not contrasting or giving examples, but rather moving to the next logical step in the pottery-making process
- So the right answer should signal that we're progressing to the next step in the sequence
- "For example" introduces an illustration or specific instance of something general
- Building walls isn't an example of creating a base - it's a completely separate step
- This would suggest the wall-building illustrates base creation, which doesn't make sense
- "However" signals contrast or opposition between ideas
- There's no contrast between creating the base and building walls - these steps work together in the same process
- What trap this represents: Students might think any transition works, but "however" would suggest the steps conflict rather than complement each other
- "By contrast" also signals opposition or difference between ideas
- Like "however," this suggests the steps are opposing rather than sequential
- The steps are complementary parts of the same process, not contrasting approaches
- "Next" clearly signals the following step in a sequence
- Perfectly matches the chronological progression from base creation to wall building
- This maintains the logical flow we identified in our passage analysis - each step builds on the previous one