The DIRECT Method for CLT Grammar & Writing

The answer is C. Because we need something to modify the participle (verbal adjective) “committed”, we’re looking for an adverb. (Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.) Choice C fits the bill, and no other choice offers an adverb. The DIRECT method tells us to “Examine the structure of the answers”; doing so here shows us that we have multiple part-of-speech forms of the same word (choice D being slightly different). This recognition points us to identifying the part of speech as the central task here.

The answer is B. “Garbled” means hard to discern or understand, so “ungarbled” must mean clear and unmistakable. This fits the context because, in parallel with a “fair trial,” the author would want any evidence to be clear. “Unreadable” would be the opposite of clear; unsympathetic has a negative connotation that doesn’t fit here, and something “unwritten,” while it could possibly be clear, is certainly not clear by its very nature. The DIRECT method’s encouragement to “Read the context,” at minimum the whole sentence in which the underlined portion is found, helps us gather sufficient hints to point us toward choice B and away from the other choices.

The answer is B. The sentence structure is quite complicated. It first looks like we need to go back to the word “because” as the real beginning of this clause, but that “because” is parallel to “It is because” all the way back at the beginning of the sentence. To answer questions like this, it is crucial to strip away unnecessary words and phrases to get at that basic structure. The whole clause here is set up by “It is because …” So certainly another “because” wouldn’t make sense. What do we say after “It is because …”? That is the word we’re looking for. This would be a good question on which to follow the last step of DIRECT and read our answer back in, since the sentence is so long; reading it silently with the right answer in mind should confirm our understanding.

The answer is A. Using the DIRECT method, we put special emphasis on the stated question here, particularly the words “clearest and most concise.” On the one hand, we can get rid of choices that are not concise; unusually long answers like C and D are almost always ripe to be eliminated. But we also need to be clear, and the CLT is implying in that direction that we cannot take away meaning from the sentence. So although choice B is quite concise, it removes the sense the author gives us of speaking to an issue when others have already spoken. Answer A avoids unnecessary wording but retains the meaning.

The answer is A. As is often true on the CLT, the language is a little bit archaic. We don’t often use words like “hitherto” and “henceforth”, so perhaps we can use the context and work by elimination. As we emphasize in CLT Verbal Reasoning, the word “but” is always important. The word we’re looking for here, when paired with “voiceless”, needs to establish a contrast with someone who is “open-eyed.” Someone “open-eyed” is vigilant and aware, and that seems to already contrast with “voiceless”, so there must also be a contrast in time. If the author is open-eyed in the present, then neither choice C nor choice D would offer a contrast by presenting a time different from the present. “Henceforth” means “from this time onward”; in the context, it wouldn’t make sense for Cooper to be suggesting that she is speaking now but somehow will become voiceless right away and in the future. The context suggests that Black women in America were voiceless in the past; since “hitherto” means “up to now” or “before this moment,” it fits best. The DIRECT method tells us not to be afraid of NO CHANGE, which suits our answer here! It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking you always have to change the underlined portion, but NO CHANGE will occupy its share of the correct answer pool.