Like the 1945 play it reimagines—Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba—Marcus Gardley's 2014 play The House That Will...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Like the 1945 play it reimagines—Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba—Marcus Gardley's 2014 play The House That Will Not Stand prominently features women. In both plays, the all-female cast ________ an array of female characters, including a strong mother and several daughters dealing with individual struggles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
engulfs
encourages
comprises
provokes
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Like the 1945 play it reimagines—Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba—Marcus Gardley's 2014 play The House That Will Not Stand prominently features women." |
|
| "In both plays, the all-female cast" |
|
| [MISSING WORD/PHRASE] |
|
| "an array of female characters, including a strong mother and several daughters dealing with individual struggles." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Two plays from different eras share the common feature of prominently showcasing women through their all-female casts and character types.
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 word must describe what a cast does with characters in a play
- It should make grammatical sense: "the cast [verb] characters"
- Since we're talking about "an array of female characters," the verb should indicate that the cast is made up of or consists of these various characters
engulfs
✗ Incorrect
- "Engulfs" means to completely surround or swallow up
- This suggests the cast overwhelms or consumes the characters, which doesn't make theatrical sense
encourages
✗ Incorrect
- "Encourages" means to give support or confidence to someone
- While actors might encourage characters to develop, this doesn't describe the fundamental relationship between cast and characters
comprises
✓ Correct
- "Comprises" means consists of or is made up of
- This perfectly describes how a cast is composed of various characters
- The sentence flows naturally: "the cast comprises an array of female characters"
provokes
✗ Incorrect
- "Provokes" means to stimulate or incite, often in a negative way
- This suggests the cast angers or agitates the characters, which doesn't make sense in this context