ELA: Conventions
Researchers studying magnetosensation have determined why some soil-dwelling roundworms in the Southern Hemisphere move in the opposite direction of Earth’s magnetic field when searching for _______ in the Northern Hemisphere, the magnetic field points down, into the ground, but in the Southern Hemisphere, it points up, toward the surface and away from worms’ food sources.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) food:
B) food,
C) food while
D) food
A) food:
Most conifers (trees belonging to the phylum Coniferophyta) are evergreen. That is, they keep their green leaves or needles year-round. However, not all conifer species are evergreen. Larch trees, _______ lose their needles every fall.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) for instance,
B) nevertheless,
C) meanwhile,
D) in addition,
A) for instance,
The total cost, in dollars, to rent a surfboard consists of a $25 service fee and a $10 per hour rental fee. A person rents a surfboard for t hours and intends to spend a maximum of $75 to rent the surfboard.
Which inequality represents this situation?
A) 10t ≤ 75
B) 10 + 25t ≤ 75
C) 25t ≤ 75
D) 25 + 10t ≤ 75
C) 25t ≤ 75
Triangles ABC and DEF are congruent, where A corresponds to D, and B and E are right angles. The measure of angle A is 18°.
What is the measure of angle F ?
A) 18°
B) 72°
C) 90°
D) 162°
B) 72°
s = 40 + 3t
The equation gives the speed s, in miles per hour, of a certain car t seconds after it began to accelerate. What is the speed, in miles per hour, of the car 5 seconds after it began to accelerate?
A) 40
B) 43
C) 45
D) 55
D) 55
Mathematician Grigori Perelman, sometimes in conjunction with mathematicians Richard S. Hamilton and Shing-Tung Yau, _______ credited with proving the Poincaré conjecture. Having built on Hamilton’s previous work to solve the proof, Perelman has insisted that Hamilton receive credit. Yau later found and closed gaps in Perelman’s proof, persuading some mathematicians that he deserves credit as well.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) are
B) have been
C) are being
D) is
D) is
Neuroscientist Karen Konkoly wanted to determine whether individuals can understand and respond to questions during REM sleep. She first taught volunteers eye movements they would use to respond to basic math problems while asleep (a single left-right eye movement indicated the number one). _______ she attached electrodes to the volunteers’ faces to record their eye movements during sleep.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Specifically,
B) Next,
C) For instance,
D) In sum,
B) Next,
If 4x + 2 = 12 , what is the value of 16x + 8 ?
A) 40
B) 48
C) 56
D) 60
B) 48
What is the perimeter, in inches, of a rectangle with a length of 4 inches and a width of 9 inches?
A) 13
B) 17
C) 22
D) 26
D) 26
The function f is defined by f (x) = (−8) (2)x + 22. What is the y-intercept of the graph of y = f(x) in the xy-plane?
A) ( 0, 14 )
B) ( 0, 2 )
C) ( 0, 22 )
D) ( 0, −8 )
A) ( 0, 14 )
Public-awareness campaigns about the need to reduce single-use plastics can be successful, says researcher Kim Borg of Monash University in Australia, when these campaigns give consumers a choice: for example, Japan achieved a 40 percent reduction in plastic-bag use after cashiers were instructed to ask customers whether _______ wanted a bag.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) they
B) one
C) you
D) it
A) they
In his 1925 book The Morphology of Landscape, US geographer Carl Sauer challenged prevailing views about how natural landscapes influence human cultures. _______ Sauer argued that instead of being shaped entirely by their natural surroundings, cultures play an active role in their own development by virtue of their interactions with the environment.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Similarly,
B) Finally,
C) Therefore,
D) Specifically,
D) Specifically,
The result of increasing the quantity x by 1,800% is 684. What is the value of x ?
A) 12,996
B) 12,312
C) 38
D) 36
D) 36
Which of the following equations represents a circle in the xy-plane that intersects the y-axis at exactly one point?
A) (x − 8)2 + (y − 8)2 = 16
B) (x − 8)2 + (y− 4)2 = 16
C) (x − 4)2 + (y − 9)2 = 16
D) x2 + (y − 9) = 16
C) (x − 4)2 + (y − 9)2 = 16
Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson turns punching bags used by boxers into art by decorating them with beadwork and elements of Native dressmaking. These elements include leather fringe and jingles, the metal cones that cover the dresses worn in the jingle dance, a women’s dance of the Ojibwe people. Thus, Gibson combines an object commonly associated with masculinity (a punching bag) with art forms traditionally practiced by women in most Native communities (beadwork and dressmaking). In this way, he rejects the division of male and female gender roles.
Which choice best describes Gibson’s approach to art, as presented in the text?
A) He draws from traditional Native art forms to create his original works.
B) He has been influenced by Native and non-Native artists equally.
C) He finds inspiration from boxing in designing the dresses he makes.
D) He rejects expectations about color and pattern when incorporating beadwork.
A) He draws from traditional Native art forms to create his original works.
In his 1963 exhibition Exposition of Music—Electronic Television, Korean American artist Nam June Paik showed how television images couldbe manipulated to express an artist’s perspective. Today, Paik _______ considered the first video artist.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) will be
B) had been
C) was
D) is
D) is
In her 2012 analysis of tree rings from Japan’s YakuIsland, cosmic ray physicist Fusa Miyake noted ananomalous carbon-14 spike dating to 774–775 CE, indicating that a massive burst of radiation reachedEarth during that time. _______ this unprecedentedradiocarbon surge was dubbed a “Miyake event” inhonor of its discoverer.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Fittingly,
B) Similarly,
C) However,
D) In other words,
A) Fittingly,
-9x2 + 30x + c = 0
In the given equation, c is a constant. The equationhas exactly one solution. What is the value of c ?
A) 3
B) 0
C) −25
D) −53
C) −25
In triangles ABC and DEF , angles B and E each have measure 27° and angles C and F each have measure 41°. Which additional piece of informationis sufficient to determine whether triangle ABC is congruent to triangle DEF ?
A) The measure of angle A
B) The length of side AB
C) The lengths of sides BC and EF
D) No additional information is necessary.
C) The lengths of sides BC and EF
Euphorbia esula (leafy spurge) is a Eurasian plant that has become invasive in North America, where it displaces native vegetation and sickens cattle. E. esula can be controlled with chemical herbicides, but that approach can also kill harmless plants nearby. Recent research on introducing engineered DNA into plant species to inhibit their reproduction may offer a path toward exclusively targeting E. esula, consequently _______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) making individual E. esula plants more susceptible to existing chemical herbicides.
B) enhancing the ecological benefits of E. esula in North America.
C) enabling cattle to consume E. esula without becoming sick.
D) reducing invasive E. esula numbers without harming other organisms.
D) reducing invasive E. esula numbers without harming other organisms.
Lucía Michel of the University of Chile observed that alkaline soils contain an insoluble form of iron that blueberry plants cannot absorb, thus inhibiting blueberry growth. If these plants were grown in alkaline soil alongside grasses that aid in iron solubilization, _______ Michel was determined to find out.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) could the blueberries thrive.
B) the blueberries could thrive.
C) the blueberries could thrive?
D) could the blueberries thrive?
D) could the blueberries thrive?
Researchers Helena Mihaljević-Brandt, Lucía Santamaría, and Marco Tullney report that while mathematicians may have traditionally worked alone, evidence points to a shift in the opposite direction. _______ mathematicians are choosing to collaborate with their peers—a trend illustrated by a rise in the number of mathematics publications credited to multiple authors.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Similarly,
B) For this reason,
C) Furthermore,
D) Increasingly,
D) Increasingly,
Keenan made 32 cups of vegetable broth. Keenan then filled x small jars and y large jars with all the vegetable broth he made. The equation 3x + 5y = 32 represents this situation.
Which is the best interpretation of 5y in this context?
A) The number of large jars Keenan filled
B) The number of small jars Keenan filled
C) The total number of cups of vegetable broth in the large jars
D) The total number of cups of vegetable broth in the small jars
C) The total number of cups of vegetable broth in the large jars
y = 76
y = x2 - 5
The graphs of the given equations in the xy-plane intersect at the point (x, y) . What is a possible value of x ?
A) -(76/5)
B) -9
C) 5
D) 76
B) -9
Which of the following expressions has a factor of x + 2b , where b is a positive integer constant?
A) 3x2 + 7x + 14b
B) 3x2+ 28x + 14b
C) 3x2 + 42x + 14b
D) 3x2 + 49x + 14b
D) 3x2 + 49x + 14b