Question 182·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure
Early editions of Elena Ruiz's poems relegated her marginal annotations to the back of the volume, where their smaller type helped present them as optional commentary. In her final manuscript, Ruiz retained the smaller type but moved some annotations inside poetic lines, where they supply verbs or objects required by the lines' grammar. Ruiz's revision thus seeks to _____ the boundary between annotation and poem.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
In a difficult words-in-context question, identify details that pull in different directions and select the choice that accounts for both. Reject options that fit one detail but overstate or ignore another, especially distinctions such as weakening a boundary versus eliminating or reversing it.
Hints
Track both features
Consider separately what the smaller type suggests and what the annotations' grammatical role suggests.
Evaluate the boundary's status
Ask whether the distinction disappears completely, becomes stronger, exchanges direction, or remains visible while becoming less functionally secure.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what remains unchanged
Ruiz retains the annotations' smaller type, so readers can still visually distinguish annotations from the surrounding poetry.
Identify what changes
Some annotations now occur inside poetic lines and provide verbs or objects required by the lines' grammar. They can no longer function as merely optional commentary.
Synthesize the competing details
The revision neither completely removes the boundary nor simply strengthens it. Instead, it preserves the boundary visually while undermining it structurally, so “destabilize” is the most precise choice.