Latro, the main character of Gene Wolfe's novel Soldier of the Mist, is a man in ancient Greece. He completely...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Latro, the main character of Gene Wolfe's novel Soldier of the Mist, is a man in ancient Greece. He completely loses his memory whenever he sleeps. So, before sleeping, Latro records the important experiences of each day on a scroll, carefully choosing which ones to _____.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
suspect
preserve
suggest
imagine
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Latro, the main character of Gene Wolfe's novel Soldier of the Mist, is a man in ancient Greece.' |
|
| 'He completely loses his memory whenever he sleeps.' |
|
| 'So, before sleeping, Latro records the important experiences of each day on a scroll,' |
|
| 'carefully choosing which ones to _______.' |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Latro deals with complete memory loss by selectively recording his daily experiences before sleeping.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes Latro's memory condition as a problem, then shows his systematic approach to solving it through careful documentation and selection of experiences.
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
- Since Latro loses his memory completely when he sleeps, he records experiences specifically to combat this problem
- The word we choose must reflect his goal - he's not just randomly writing things down
- He's deliberately selecting experiences for a specific purpose related to his memory loss
- The logical relationship is that he's choosing which experiences to keep safe or maintain for future reference, since his natural memory can't do this job
- The right answer should indicate that he's choosing which experiences to keep, maintain, or save from being lost forever
suspect
- 'Suspect' means to doubt or be suspicious of something
- This doesn't fit the context - Latro isn't doubting his experiences, he's trying to remember them
preserve
- 'Preserve' means to keep safe, maintain, or protect from loss
- Perfectly matches the logical flow - since he loses memories when sleeping, he preserves important ones by writing them down
suggest
- 'Suggest' means to propose or hint at something
- Doesn't make logical sense - he's not proposing experiences to someone else
imagine
- 'Imagine' means to form mental pictures or conceive of something
- Contradicts the passage logic - he's recording real experiences that happened, not imaginary ones