Question

Select the correct answer from the drop-down menu.

Look at paragraph 4 of the excerpt.

(4) Each day they got worse; soon it became clear that mere adjectives could not convey any idea of their terrors. Therefore I devised a mosquito gauge. I held up a bare hand for 5 seconds by the watch, then counted the number of borers on the back; there were 5 to 10. Each day added to the number, and when we got out to the Buffalo country, there were 15 to 25 on the one side of the hand and elsewhere in proportion. On the Nyarling, in early July, the number was increased, being now 20 to 40. On A lake, later that month, there were 50 to 60. But when we reached the Barren Grounds, the land of open breezy plains and cold water lakes, the pests were so bad that the hand held up for 5 seconds often showed from 100 to 125 long-billed mosquitoes boring away into the flesh. It was possible to number them only by killing them and counting the corpses. What wonder that all men should avoid the open plains, that are the kingdom of such a scourge.

How does this show the author refining his idea?

This shows the author refining his idea by

Answer 1

The author refines his idea by inventing a 'mosquito gauge' to quantify the severity of mosquito infestations, indicating a shift from subjective descriptions to objective measurements.

It shows the author refining his idea by developing a quantitative measure to represent the severity of mosquito infestations. As the passage indicates, the situation worsens progressively; the initial descriptive adjectives were insufficient to convey the escalating problem. Thus, the author creates a 'mosquito gauge' to provide a clearer, more objective representation of the mosquito problem experienced during the journey.

This gauge involved exposing a hand for five seconds and counting the number of mosquitoes, with the counts increasing from 5-10 to a staggering 100-125 mosquitoes as the conditions changed. This methodical approach refines the author's initial idea by introducing systematic measurement, which allows for comparisons over time and varying locations, illuminating the change in mosquito population density more effectively.