unit 1
Read this piece of textual evidence from the article “Video Games in the Age of Cell Phones.”
The canonical example is Flappy Bird. A simple game featuring a squat little bird that tries (and usually fails) to fly between big green pipes without touching them, Flappy Bird was coded over a long weekend in 2013 by a 28-year-old in Hanoi named Dong Nguyen. Since then it’s been downloaded over 50 million times and was making $50,000 a day before Nguyen took it down because he couldn’t cope with all the pressure and attention: the game was too successful.
What ideas in the text are supported by this textual evidence?
Mobile games are simple to buy and simple to play.
Read the excerpt from “Confessions of a Depressed Comic.”
And I don’t know what the solution is. I wish I did, but I don’t—but I think, I think it has to start here. It has to start with me, it has to start with you, it has to start with the people who are suffering, the ones who are hidden in the shadows. We need to speak up and shatter the silence. We need to be the ones who are brave for what we believe in, because if there’s one thing that I’ve come to realize, if there’s one thing that I see as the biggest problem, it’s not in building a world where we eliminate the ignorance of others.
The speaker uses the phrase “shatter the silence” to __________.
challenge the audience to take action, encouraging them to stop ignoring depression and those who are suffering from it
Although both teams played well, the Falcons won in the last few seconds of the game.
comma correct
Which excerpt from “Remarks by the President on Osama bin Laden” best identifies the use of syntax as a rhetorical feature?
We must—and we will—remain vigilant at home and abroad. As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not—and never will be—at war with Islam.
Read the sentence.
In the court case “US Supreme Court: Ingraham v. Wright,” the court ruling determined that _[blank]_.
Which option best completes the sentence?
Eighth Amendment protections do not apply in cases of corporal punishment in public schools
Read the excerpt from “Video Games in the Age of Cell Phones.”
But it’s not just a menu, the levels are arranged along a path, and the path runs through a strange little universe, subtly animated, with sea and snow, forest and desert, up into a spacey celestial wonderland and beyond. Completing the levels becomes a journey. The little universe is populated by enigmatic but appealing creatures—a giant squid, a dancing yeti, a snoozing fox—who keep you company on your quest.
If you didn’t know the word enigmatic, what word in the excerpt could you use as a context clue to help you figure out its meaning?
strange
Which options describe the potential weaknesses of using anecdotes as evidence in informational text?
Anecdotes are stories that have not been scientifically tested, so their accuracy is questionable.
(1) Since the 1980s, honeybee health has been rapidly declining. (2) Honeybees pollinate about a third of the crops in the United States, and most flowering plants depend on honeybees to survive. (3) Scientists are struggling to learn the cause of the problem, which has led to the loss of many commercial beehives. (4) Since the 1980s, the number of commercial colonies has dropped from five billion to 2.5 million, and many of the surviving colonies have diseased hives. (5) Commercial beekeepers typically stay in business year-round, hauling their colonies to warm areas of the country during the winter so they can meet demands for out-of-season crops.
Which sentence could be eliminated because it fails to support the main idea of the passage?
sentence 5
Read the excerpt from “Remarks by the President on Osama bin Laden.”
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.
Which option best analyzes how Obama uses metaphor to acknowledge the sense of unity felt by the nation?
Obama describes “Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.” This allows him to figuratively depict the pain of loss, an emotion that is difficult to express in literal terms.
Read the sentence.
The author of the biography was accused of making up many quotations, although she claimed it came from actual interviews.
Which option shows the best way to revise the sentence for correctness and clarity?
The author of the biography was accused of making up many quotations, although she claimed they came from actual interviews.