The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1910 poem The Earth's Entail. No matter how we cultivate the land,...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1910 poem The Earth's Entail. No matter how we cultivate the land, Taming the forest and the prairie free; No matter how we irrigate the sand, Making the desert blossom at command, We must always leave the borders of the sea; The immeasureable reaches Of the windy wave-wet beaches, The million-mile-long margin of the sea.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "No matter how we cultivate the land, Taming the forest and the prairie free;" |
|
| "No matter how we irrigate the sand, Making the desert blossom at command," |
|
| "We must always leave the borders of the sea;" |
|
| "The immeasureable reaches Of the windy wave-wet beaches, The million-mile-long margin of the sea." |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: While humans can control many aspects of nature through cultivation and irrigation, the sea must always remain beyond our control.
Argument Flow: The speaker presents multiple examples of successful human domination over natural environments, then introduces a significant exception—the sea—which must remain untouched, and concludes by emphasizing the sea's immense, uncontrollable nature.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The overall structure of the text—how the ideas are organized and flow together.
What type of answer do we need? A description of the pattern the text follows from beginning to end.
Any limiting keywords? "Overall structure" tells us we need to capture the broad organizational pattern, not focus on specific details.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The structure follows a clear pattern: first we get examples of human control over nature (land cultivation, forest taming, desert irrigation), then we get a contrasting limitation (the sea must remain untouched)
- The text shows humans successfully controlling some aspects of nature, but then reminds us there are limits to this control
- The right answer should describe this pattern of showing human attempts to control nature followed by acknowledging the limits of that control
- Claims the speaker "argues against interfering with nature" but the passage doesn't argue against the cultivation and irrigation—it simply states these activities happen
- Misses the actual structure of examples followed by limitation
- Says efforts are "only temporary" but the passage doesn't suggest the human controls are temporary
- The sea limitation isn't about temporariness—it's about permanent boundaries of human control
- Calls the human activities "admirable" but the passage takes a neutral tone toward cultivation and irrigation
- Doesn't match the structure, which isn't about challenging an approach but identifying limits
- Accurately captures the structure: "describes attempts to control nature" (first part with cultivation, taming, irrigation) "Then offers a reminder that not all nature is controllable" (the sea limitation)
- Matches our analysis of examples of control followed by acknowledgment of limits