<p>I’ll give you the question and the only two reasonable answers, B is right. By the way, there -was- a lengthy philosophical discussion prior to this in the passage</p>
<ol>
<li>The fact that Lord Henry’s “eyelids drooped” indicates that</li>
</ol>
<p>A) he has grown tired due to extensive conversation
B) his attitude has become thoughtful</p>
<p>This is the line it refers to: “As he left the room, Lord Henry’s heavy eyelids drooped, and he began to think. Certainly…”</p>
<p>The very definition of drooped means sagging from exhaustion or fatigue, and drooping eyelids is a sign of tiredness. Yes, it says “began to think” in the sentence, but one doesn’t associate drooping eyelids with thoughtfulness. It’s a connection that has no direct relevence in my opinion…Don’t get me wrong, I would have chosen B in a heartbeat if not for the drooping eyelids. Can someone tell me how this isn’t confusing a confusing problem and what my mindset should have been tackling this problem?</p>
<p>When tackling such a question, sometimes its best to pay attention to the bigger part of the sentence “…and he began to think.” Sure, drooped means sagging from exhaustion but if you look past that…it shows that he’s in fact thinking about something. The dropped is just a diversion from the main point of the sentence. That is why I would choose B rather than A. And yeah, this seems to be a level 4-5 difficulty question. My reasoning is this atleast.</p>
<p>When answering a question with line references, keep in mind that sometimes you have to refer not only to the lines specified, but also to the lines immediately before or after the quote. The line has to be considered in context of the paragraph as a whole. One of my prep books recommends a “5 x 5” approach; read the 5 lines before the selection and the 5 lines after the selection to help you answer the question.</p>
<p>The very fact that you said that there was a “lengthy philosophical discussion” in the passage indicates to me that the character is probably not tired. But if you could provide more of the paragraph, we might be able to help you more.</p>
<p>Don’t overthink it. Is there evidence in the passage for Lord Henry’s becoming tired? I’m guessing there’s not. Is there evidence that he’s thinking about something? Clearly, yes. Even if an answer choice makes sense, it’s not the right one unless you can directly support it.</p>