In her memoir, the author recounts her grandmother’s everyday rituals in vivid detail. Although each scene concerns a private family moment, together the scenes ______ the book’s treatment of immigration by showing how large historical forces shape ordinary life.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For a Words-in-Context question, identify the relationship between the ideas surrounding the blank and paraphrase the missing word’s required function before considering the choices. Then compare each option’s precise meaning with the full context, paying particular attention to contrasts and explanatory phrases that clarify whether the missing word should express expansion, restriction, avoidance, or moderation.
Hints
Notice the contrast
Consider why the sentence contrasts each scene’s private focus with the scenes’ collective effect on a broader subject.
Focus on the explanatory phrase
Ask what showing the effects of historical forces on ordinary life would do to the memoir’s treatment of immigration.
Test each verb in context
Determine whether each option suggests enriching the treatment, avoiding it, restricting it, or making it less forceful.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the relationship between the ideas
The word “Although” establishes a contrast: each scene focuses on a private family moment, but the scenes collectively contribute to the memoir’s broader treatment of immigration.
Determine what the scenes accomplish
By showing how large historical forces affect ordinary life, the scenes make the treatment of immigration richer and more developed. The missing verb should express this increase in insight or complexity.
Compare the options
“Temper” means to moderate or soften, which the sentence does not suggest. “Sidestep” means to avoid, but the scenes directly address immigration’s effects. “Confine” means to restrict, whereas the scenes connect private experiences to broad historical forces. “Deepen” means to make something more profound or developed, matching the relationship described.
Select the most precise word
The scenes deepen the book’s treatment of immigration because they reveal how a broad historical process operates within ordinary family life.