Conventions
After the United Kingdom began rolling out taxes equivalent to a few cents on single-use plastic grocery bags in 2011, plastic-bag consumption decreased by up to ninety _______ taxes are subject to what economists call the “rebound effect”: as the change became normalized, plastic-bag use started to creep back up.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) percent, such
B) percent and such
C) percent. Such
D) percent such
C) percent. Such
The Alaska Native Language Archive (ANLA) is known for its impressive audio collection. _______ the ANLA has more than 5,000 audio recordings of Native Alaskan languages dating as far back as 1943.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) In fact,
B) After,
C) Regardless,
D) Instead,
A) In fact,
• Most, but not all, of the Moon’s oxygen comes from the Sun, via solar wind.
• Cosmochemist Kentaro Terada from Osaka University wondered if some of the unaccounted-for oxygen could be coming from Earth.
• In 2008, he analyzed data from the Japanese satellite Kaguya.
• Kaguya gathered data about gases and particles it encountered while orbiting the Moon.
• Based on the Kaguya data, Terada confirmed his suspicion that Earth is sending oxygen to the Moon. The student wants to emphasize the aim of the research study.
Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) As it orbited the Moon, the Kaguya satellite collected data that was later analyzed by cosmochemist Kentaro Terada.
B) Before 2008, Kentaro Terada wondered if the Moon was receiving some of its oxygen from Earth.
C) Cosmochemist Kentaro Terada set out to determine whether some of the Moon’s oxygen was coming from Earth.
D) Kentaro Terada’s study determined that Earth is sending a small amount of oxygen to the Moon.
C) Cosmochemist Kentaro Terada set out to determine whether some of the Moon’s oxygen was coming from Earth.
In 2007, computer scientist Luis von Ahn was working on converting printed books into a digital format. He found that some words were distorted enough that digital scanners couldn’t recognize them, but most humans could easily read them. Based on that finding, von Ahn invented a simple security test to keep automated “bots” out of websites. The first version of the reCAPTCHA test asked users to type one known word and one of the many words scanners couldn’t recognize. Correct answers proved the users were humans and added data to the book-digitizing project.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To discuss von Ahn’s invention of reCAPTCHA
B) To explain how digital scanners work
C) To call attention to von Ahn’s book-digitizing project
D) To indicate how popular reCAPTCHA is
A) To discuss von Ahn’s invention of reCAPTCHA
The following text is adapted from Gwendolyn Bennett’s 1926 poem “Street Lamps in Early Spring.”
"Night wears a garment
All velvet soft, all violet blue...
And over her face she draws a veil
As shimmering fine as floating dew...
And here and there In the black of her hair
The subtle hands of Night Move slowly with their gem-starred light."
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) It presents alternating descriptions of night in a rural area and in a city.
B) It sketches an image of nightfall, then an image of sunrise.
C) It makes an extended comparison of night to a human being.
D) It portrays how night changes from one season of the year to the next.
C) It makes an extended comparison of night to a human being.
The forty-seven geothermal springs of Arkansas’ Hot Springs National Park are sourced via a process known as natural groundwater recharge, in which rainwater percolates downward through the earth—in this case, the porous rocks of the hills around Hot ______ collect in a subterranean basin.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) Springs to
B) Springs: to
C) Springs--to
D) Springs, to
C) Springs--to
Etched into Peru’s Nazca Desert are line drawings so large that they can only be fully seen from high above. Archaeologists have known of the lines since the 1920s, when a researcher spotted some from a nearby foothill, and they have been studying the markings ever since. ______ archaeologists’ efforts are aided by drones that capture high-resolution aerial photographs of the lines.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Currently,
B) In comparison,
C) Still,
D) However,
A) Currently,
• The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was a road built between 1792 and 1794.
• It was the first private turnpike in the United States.
• It connected the cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster in the state of Pennsylvania.
• It was sixty-two miles long. The student wants to emphasize the distance covered by the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike.
Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) The sixty-two-mile-long Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike connected the Pennsylvania cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster.
B) The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was the first private turnpike in the United States.
C) The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which connected two Pennsylvania cities, was built between 1792 and 1794.
D) A historic Pennsylvania road, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was completed in 1794.
A) The sixty-two-mile-long Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike connected the Pennsylvania cities of Philadelphia and Lancaster.
Archaeologists studying the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy recently discovered a well-preserved food shop known as a thermopolium. The site contains food remains, artworks, and decorations. These items give researchers a better understanding of what daily life in Pompeii may have been like. For example, the archaeologists found a ceramic jar that they believe likely contained a meat and seafood stew.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To compare ancient artworks with modern ones
B) To discuss the political system of Italy
C) To present a recent archaeological discovery
D) To describe a region’s climate
C) To present a recent archaeological discovery
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem “Calamus 24.”
"I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions;
But really I am neither for nor against institutions
(What indeed have I in common with them?— Or what with the destruction of them?),
Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water,
Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades."
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his worldview.
B) The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in society.
C) The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many achievements.
D) The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand ambition of his.
D) The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand ambition of his.
During the English neoclassical period (1660–1789), many writers imitated the epic poetry and satires of ancient Greece and Rome. They were not the first in England to adopt the literary modes of classical _______ some of the most prominent figures of the earlier Renaissance period were also influenced by ancient Greek and Roman literature.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) antiquity, however
B) antiquity, however,
C) antiquity, however;
D) antiquity; however,
C) antiquity, however;
In 1974, Mexican chemist Mario Molina and US chemist F. Sherwood Rowland discovered that chemicals called CFCs were harmful to the ozone layer. Their research was extremely influential in the fight against CFCs. _______ it laid the foundation for a 1987 treaty that phased out the use of CFCs across the globe.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Regardless,
B) Specifically,
C) However,
D) Earlier,
B) Specifically,
•The factors that affect clutch size (the number of eggs laid at one time) have been well studied in birds but not in lizards.
• A team led by Shai Meiri of Tel Aviv University investigated which factors influence lizard clutch size. • Meiri’s team obtained clutch-size and habitat data for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed the data with statistical models.
• Larger clutch size was associated with environments in higher latitudes that have more seasonal change.
• Lizards in higher-latitude environments may lay larger clutches to take advantage of shorter windows of favorable conditions.
The student wants to emphasize the aim of the research study. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) Researchers wanted to know which factors influence lizard egg clutch size because such factors have been well studied in birds but not in lizards.
B) After they obtained data for over 3,900 lizard species, researchers determined that larger clutch size was associated with environments in higher latitudes that have more seasonal change.
C) We now know that lizards in higher-latitude environments may lay larger clutches to take advantage of shorter windows of favorable conditions.
D) Researchers obtained clutch-size and habitat data for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed the data with statistical models.
A) Researchers wanted to know which factors influence lizard egg clutch size because such factors have been well studied in birds but not in lizards.
The following text is adapted from Jane Austen’s 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is considering staging a play at home with a group of his friends and family.
"We mean nothing but a little amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise our powers in something new. We want no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I think, in choosing some play most perfectly unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some respectable author than in chattering in words of our own."
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To offer Tom’s assurance that the play will be inoffensive and involve only a small number of people
B) To clarify that the play will not be performed in the manner Tom had originally intended
C) To elaborate on the idea that the people around Tom lack the skills to successfully stage a play
D) To assert that Tom believes the group performing the play will be able to successfully promote it
A) To offer Tom’s assurance that the play will be inoffensive and involve only a small number of people
The following text is adapted from Aphra Behn’s 1689 novel The Lucky Mistake. Atlante and Rinaldo are neighbors who have been secretly exchanging letters through Charlot, Atlante’s sister.
"[Atlante] gave this letter to Charlot; who immediately ran into the balcony with it, where she still found Rinaldo in a melancholy posture, leaning his head on his hand: She showed him the letter, but was afraid to toss it to him, for fear it might fall to the ground; so he ran and fetched a long cane, which he cleft at one end, and held it while she put the letter into the cleft, and stayed not to hear what he said to it. But never was man so transported with joy, as he was at the reading of this letter; it gives him new wounds; for to the generous, nothing obliges love so much as love."
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) It describes the delivery of a letter, and then portrays a character’s happiness at reading that letter.
B) It establishes that a character is desperate to receive a letter, and then explains why another character has not yet written that letter.
C) It presents a character’s concerns about delivering a letter, and then details the contents of that letter.
D) It reveals the inspiration behind a character’s letter, and then emphasizes the excitement that another character feels upon receiving that letter.
A) It describes the delivery of a letter, and then portrays a character’s happiness at reading that letter.
In 1943, in the midst of World War II, mathematics professor Grace Hopper was recruited by the US military to help the war effort by solving complex equations. Hopper’s subsequent career would involve more than just _______ as a pioneering computer programmer, Hopper would help usher in the digital age.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) equations, though:
B) equations, though,
C) equations. Though,
D) equations though
A) equations, though:
In November 1934, Amrita Sher-Gil was living in what must have seemed like the ideal city for a young artist: Paris. She was studying firsthand the color-saturated style of France’s modernist masters and beginning to make a name for herself as a painter. _______ Sher-Gil longed to return to her childhood home of India; only there, she believed, could her art truly flourish.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Still,
B) Therefore,
C) Indeed,
D) Furthermore,
A) Still,
• Some sandstone arches in Utah’s Arches National Park have been defaced by tourists’ carvings.
• Park rangers can smooth away some carvings using power grinders.
• For deep carvings, power grinding is not always feasible because it can greatly alter or damage the rock.
• Park rangers can use an infilling technique, which involves filling in carvings with ground sandstone and a bonding agent.
• This technique is minimally invasive.
The student wants to explain an advantage of the infilling technique. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) To remove carvings from sandstone arches in Utah’s Arches National Park, power grinding is not always feasible.
B) Filling in carvings with ground sandstone and a bonding agent is less invasive than smoothing them away with a power grinder, which can greatly alter or damage the sandstone arches.
C) Park rangers can use a power grinding technique to smooth away carvings or fill them in with ground sandstone and a bonding agent.
D) As methods for removing carvings from sandstone, power grinding and infilling differ in their level of invasiveness.
B) Filling in carvings with ground sandstone and a bonding agent is less invasive than smoothing them away with a power grinder, which can greatly alter or damage the sandstone arches.
According to historian Vicki L. Ruiz, Mexican American women made crucial contributions to the labor movement during World War II. At the time, food processing companies entered into contracts to supply United States armed forces with canned goods. Increased production quotas conferred greater bargaining power on the companies’ employees, many of whom were Mexican American women: employees insisted on more favorable benefits, and employers, who were anxious to fulfill the contracts, complied. Thus, labor activism became a platform for Mexican American women to assert their agency.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A) It elaborates on a claim about labor relations in a particular industry made earlier in the text.
B) It offers an example of a trend in the World War II–era economy discussed earlier in the text.
C) It notes a possible exception to the historical narrative of labor activism sketched earlier in the text.
D) It provides further details about the identities of the workers discussed earlier in the text.
A) It elaborates on a claim about labor relations in a particular industry made earlier in the text.
Changes to vegetation cover and other human activities influence carbon and nitrogen levels in soil, though how deep these effects extend is unclear. Hypothesizing that differences in land use lead to differences in carbon and nitrogen levels that are not restricted to the topsoil layer (0–30 cm deep), Chukwuebuka Okolo and colleagues sampled soils across multiple land-use types (e.g., grazing land, cropland, forest) within each of several Ethiopian locations. They found, though, that across land-use types, carbon and nitrogen decreased to comparably low levels beyond depths of 30 cm.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) It describes a phenomenon that scientists do not fully understand, explains a research team’s hypothesis about that phenomenon, and then describes a finding that led the team to refine the hypothesis.
B) It introduces an unresolved scientific question, presents a research team’s hypothesis pertaining to that question, and then describes an observation made by the team that conflicts with that hypothesis.
C) It discusses a process that scientists are somewhat unclear about, introduces competing hypotheses about that process, and then explains how a research team concluded that one of those hypotheses is likely correct.
D) It explains a hypothesis that has been the subject of scientific debate, discusses how a research team tested that hypothesis, and then presents data the team collected that validate the hypothesis.
B) It introduces an unresolved scientific question, presents a research team’s hypothesis pertaining to that question, and then describes an observation made by the team that conflicts with that hypothesis.
Paintings by the renowned twentieth-century US _______ were featured in Artist to Artist, an exhibition at the Smithsonian Art Museum that paired the works of artists whose career trajectories intersected in meaningful ways.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) artists: Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock, B) artists Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock C) artists Thomas Hart Benton, and Jackson Pollock, D) artists, Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock
B) artists Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock
With his room-sized installation Unicorn/My Private Sky, Norwegian artist Børre Sæthre succeeds in creating a whimsical yet perplexing experience. _______ when visitors set foot inside the fantastically blue room and encounter the life-sized stuffed unicorn preening at the far end of it, they are both dazzled and confused—as if stepping into a strange and enchanting new world.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Second,
B) Instead,
C) Indeed,
D) Nevertheless,
C) Indeed,
• Las sergas de Esplandián was a novel popular in sixteenth-century Spain.
• The novel featured a fictional island inhabited solely by Black women and known as California.
• That same century, Spanish explorers learned of an “island” off the west coast of Mexico.
• They called it California after the island in the novel.
• The “island” was actually the peninsula now known as Baja California (“Lower California”), which lies to the south of the US state of California.
The student wants to emphasize the role a misconception played in the naming of a place. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) The novel Las sergas de Esplandián featured a fictional island known as California.
B) To the south of the US state of California lies Baja California (“Lower California”), originally called California after a fictional place.
C) In the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers learned of a peninsula off the west coast of Mexico and called it California.
D) Thinking it was an island, Spanish explorers called a peninsula California after an island in a popular novel.
D) Thinking it was an island, Spanish explorers called a peninsula California after an island in a popular novel.
More than 60% of journeys in Mexico City occur via public transit, but simply reproducing a feature of the city’s transit system—e.g., its low fares—is unlikely to induce a significant increase in another city’s transit ridership. As Erick Guerra et al. have shown, transportation mode choice in urban areas of Mexico is the product of a complex mix of factors, including population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and demographic characteristics of individuals. System features do affect ridership, of course, but there is an irreducibly contextual dimension of transportation mode choice.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A) It presents an objection to the argument of Guerra et al. about transportation mode choice in urban areas of Mexico.
B) It explains why it is challenging to influence transit ridership solely by altering characteristics of a transit system.
C) It illustrates the claim that a characteristic associated with high transit ridership in Mexico City is not associated with high transit ridership elsewhere.
D) It substantiates the assertion that population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and demographic characteristics are important factors in transportation mode choice.
B) It explains why it is challenging to influence transit ridership solely by altering characteristics of a transit system.
The north celestial pole (NCP)—the fixed point around which stars in the Northern Hemisphere (including the Sun) appear to rotate—is discernible only at night. Inspired by the navigational strategies of some insects and birds, researchers devised a method for locating the NCP in daytime using skylight polarization, which occurs as atmospheric particles scatter sunlight. A polarimetric camera captures images of polarization patterns, which rotate as the Sun’s position in the sky changes; temporal variances across images can then be used to determine an observer’s latitude and bearing relative to the NCP.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) It illustrates how most navigational tools utilize the NCP, recounts how researchers discovered that certain animals are able to navigate without using the NCP, and then proposes that this discovery could be used to avoid problems in navigation associated with reliance on the NCP.
B) It presents a celestial-based method of navigation, enumerates the comparative benefits of an alternative method used by certain animals that is based on an unrelated natural occurrence, and then indicates how researchers assessed the relative accuracy of the two methods.
C) It explains how the NCP is typically located, emphasizes a key difference between how humans and certain animals use the NCP for navigation, and then suggests an alternative way of using the NCP to improve existing navigational instruments.
D) It notes an obstacle to observing an astronomical phenomenon, mentions a navigational ability of certain animals that inspired a solution to that obstacle, and then explains how researchers used an optical device to mimic that ability.
D) It notes an obstacle to observing an astronomical phenomenon, mentions a navigational ability of certain animals that inspired a solution to that obstacle, and then explains how researchers used an optical device to mimic that ability.