Seminole/Muscogee director Sterlin Harjo _________ television's tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past: this rejection is evident i...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Seminole/Muscogee director Sterlin Harjo _________ television's tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past: this rejection is evident in his series Reservation Dogs, which revolves around teenagers who dress in contemporary styles and whose dialogue is laced with current slang.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
repudiates
proclaims
foretells
recants
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Seminole/Muscogee director Sterlin Harjo" |
|
| "_______ television's tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past:" |
|
| "this rejection is evident in his series Reservation Dogs," |
|
| "which revolves around teenagers who dress in contemporary styles and whose dialogue is laced with current slang." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Sterlin Harjo rejects television's tendency to portray Native characters in historical settings, as shown through his contemporary series.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces Harjo and his stance against TV's historical portrayal of Native people, then provides evidence through his show featuring modern Native teenagers.
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 the context, we need a word that describes Harjo's relationship to "television's tendency to situate Native characters in the distant past."
- The phrase "this rejection" in the next part tells us the missing word must mean some form of rejection or opposition.
- The evidence (Reservation Dogs with contemporary elements) supports the idea that Harjo is actively going against the historical portrayal trend.
- So the right answer should mean "rejects" or "opposes" television's tendency to show Native characters in the past.
repudiates
✓ Correct
- "Repudiates" means to firmly reject or refuse to acknowledge
- This perfectly matches our prethinking - Harjo rejects TV's historical portrayals
- The evidence supports this: his show features contemporary Native characters, directly opposing the historical trend
proclaims
✗ Incorrect
- "Proclaims" means to announce or declare publicly
- This doesn't make logical sense - you can't "proclaim" a tendency
- The evidence about rejection wouldn't support proclaiming something
foretells
✗ Incorrect
- "Foretells" means to predict future events
- This creates an illogical meaning - directors don't predict TV tendencies
- The evidence about contemporary characters doesn't relate to prediction
recants
✗ Incorrect
- "Recants" means to withdraw or take back a previous statement
- This implies Harjo previously supported the tendency, which isn't suggested
- What trap this represents: Students might think "recants" works because it involves changing position, but it specifically requires a previous statement to withdraw