Question

Read the excerpt from "The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean.”

The bean, who had prudently stayed behind on the shore, could not but laugh at the event, was unable to stop, and laughed so heartily that she burst. It would have been all over with her, likewise, if, by good fortune, a tailor who was travelling in search of work had not sat down to rest by the brook.

As he had a compassionate heart he pulled out his needle and thread, and sewed her together. The bean thanked him most prettily, but as the tailor used black thread, all beans since then have a black seam.

Which statement most accurately explains the structure of this passage?

The author builds up to the most important idea in the story, which is that the bean lives.
The author uses chronological order to show the history of the bean's experiences.
The author uses cause and effect to show that the tailor's repair causes the bean to have a black line.
The author uses problem and solution to show how the tailor solves the bean's problem of having exploded.

Answer 1

The author uses cause and effect to show that the tailor's repair causes the bean to have a black line.

Explanation: the passage presents an action (the tailor sews the bean with black thread) and its direct result (beans since then have a black seam). The other choices are less precise: it's not primarily a historical chronology, nor mainly building up to "the bean lives," and although a problem/solution occurs, the central structural link emphasized is cause → effect.