Information and Ideas
The following text is from Jane Austen’s 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility. Elinor lives with her younger sisters and her mother, Mrs. Dashwood.
Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart;—her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.
According to the text, what is true about Elinor?
A) Elinor often argues with her mother but fails to change her mind.
B) Elinor can be overly sensitive with regard to family matters.
C) Elinor thinks her mother is a bad role model.
D) Elinor is remarkably mature for her age.
D: Elinor is remarkably mature for her age.
Artist Marilyn Dingle’s intricate, coiled baskets are ______blank sweetgrass and palmetto palm. Following a Gullah technique that originated in West Africa, Dingle skillfully winds a thin palm frond around a bunch of sweetgrass with the help of a “sewing bone” to create the basket’s signature look that no factory can reproduce.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) indicated by
B) handmade from
C) represented by
D) collected with
B: handmade from
In 1942, the 1,500-mile Alaska Highway was constructed in under nine months, largely due to the skilled work of nearly 4,000 African American soldiers from US Army engineering regiments. The soldiers’ contribution was overlooked for decades. ______blank in 2017, lawmakers declared October 25 a day of recognition—“Alaska Highway Day”—for the troops who helped build this critical roadway.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Lastly,
B) Then,
C) Similarly,
D) For example,
B: Then,
Generations of mystery and horror ______blank have been influenced by the dark, gothic stories of celebrated American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849).
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) writers
B) writers,
C) writers—
D) writers;
A: writers
Dolores Huerta’s advocacy on behalf of farmworkers was rooted in her experience as a schoolteacher in Stockton, California, in the early 1950s. Hoping to help her students and their families outside the ______blank Huerta left teaching to start the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization, a group focused on the needs of local farmworkers.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) classroom.
B) classroom;
C) classroom,
D) classroom
C: classroom,
When fashion designer Lloyd Henri Kiva New opened his store in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1945, he quickly became known for creating delicately crafted leather goods, like belts and hats. He was perhaps most renowned for his colorful handbags, which he made by hand using a long and painstaking process. As he gained more customers, New began using sewing machines and other tools to help him produce bags more efficiently, though he continued to handcraft the crucial details that made each bag unique.
Based on the text, what would have been the most likely consequence if New had not begun using sewing machines?
A) He would have been unable to ensure that each bag included unique, handcrafted details.
B) He would have struggled to meet the increasing demand for his bags.
C) He would have had to individually design each bag he produced.
D) He would not have been able to generate as much interest in his bags.
B: He would have struggled to meet the increasing demand for his bags.
The invention in 1958 of the integrated circuit (or microchip) radically altered the semiconductor industry. In fact, some historians argue that it fundamentally ______blank the industry by enabling it to take advantage of mass production methods for the first time.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) overwhelmed
B) bypassed
C) obstructed
D) transformed
D: transformed
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a prominent classical music composer from England who toured the US three times in the early 1900s. The child of a West African father and an English mother, Coleridge-Taylor emphasized his mixed-race ancestry. For example, he referred to himself as Anglo-African. ______blank he incorporated the sounds of traditional African music into his classical music compositions.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) In addition,
B) Actually,
C) However,
D) Regardless,
A: In addition,
The radiation that ______blank during the decay of radioactive atomic nuclei is known as gamma radiation.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) occurs
B) have occurred
C) occur
D) are occurring
A: occurs
Scientists have long believed that giraffes are mostly silent and communicate only visually with one another. But biologist Angela Stöger and her team analyzed hundreds of hours of recordings of giraffes in three European zoos and found that giraffes make a very low-pitched humming sound. The researchers claim that the giraffes use these sounds to communicate when it’s not possible for them to signal one another visually.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Stöger and her team’s claim?
A) Giraffes have an excellent sense of vision and can see in color.
B) The giraffes only produced the humming sounds at night when they couldn’t see one another.
C) Wild giraffes have never been recorded making humming sounds.
D) Researchers observed other animals in European zoos humming.
B: The giraffes only produced the humming sounds at night when they couldn’t see one another.
The practice of logging (cutting down trees for commercial and other uses) is often thought to be at odds with forest conservation (the work of preserving forests). However, a massive study in forest management and preservation spanning 700,000 hectares in Oregon’s Malheur National Forest calls that view into question. So far, results of the study suggest that forest plots that have undergone limited logging (the careful removal of a controlled number of trees) may be more robust than plots that haven’t been logged at all. These results, in turn, suggest that ______blank
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) logging may be useful for maintaining healthy forests, provided it is limited.
B) other forest management strategies are more effective than limited logging.
C) as time passes, it will be difficult to know whether limited logging has any benefits.
D) the best way to support forest health may be to leave large forests entirely untouched.
A: logging may be useful for maintaining healthy forests, provided it is limited.
Drivers who strongly believe that the toll they must pay to use the Lewis and Clark Bridge, which spans the Ohio River to connect Indiana and Kentucky, is currently too high are unlikely to be ______blank a proposal to increase the toll. Advocates for a higher toll are likely to have more success if they instead direct their arguments toward a more persuadable segment of the population.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) receptive to
B) apprised of
C) incensed by
D) cited in
A: receptive to
Most of the planets that have been discovered outside our solar system orbit G-type stars, like our Sun. In 2014, ______blank researchers identified a planet orbiting KELT-9, a B-type star more than twice as massive and nearly twice as hot as the Sun. Called KELT-9b, it is one of the hottest planets ever discovered.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) likewise,
B) however,
C) therefore,
D) for example,
B: however,
The Mission 66 initiative, which was approved by Congress in 1956, represented a major investment in the infrastructure of overburdened national ______blank it prioritized physical improvements to the parks’ roads, utilities, employee housing, and visitor facilities while also establishing educational programming for the public.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) parks and
B) parks
C) parks;
D) parks,
C: parks;
The following text is from Beatrice Harraden’s 1894 novel Ships that Pass in the Night.
In an old second-hand bookshop in London, an old man sat reading Gibbon’s History of Rome. He did not put down his book when the postman brought him a letter. He just glanced indifferently at the letter, and impatiently at the postman. Zerviah Holme did not like to be interrupted when he was reading Gibbon; and as he was always reading Gibbon, an interruption was always regarded by him as an insult.
Based on the text, how did Zerviah Holme most likely feel when the letter was delivered?
A) He felt relieved because he had been expecting an important letter.
B) He felt excited because the letter was from a good friend.
C) He felt sad because the postman did not stop to talk with him before leaving.
D) He felt annoyed because he was interrupted while reading his favorite author.
D: He felt annoyed because he was interrupted while reading his favorite author.
Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A) Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.
B) Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.
C) As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins and Arakawa.
D) Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
D: Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
According to a team of neuroeconomists from the University of Zurich, ease of decision making may be linked to communication between two brain regions, the prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex. Individuals tend to be more decisive if the information flow between the regions is intensified, whereas they make choices more slowly when information flow is ______blank.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) reduced
B) evaluated
C) determined
D) acquired
A: reduced
The Babylonian king Hammurabi achieved much during his forty-year reign. He conquered all of Mesopotamia and built Babylon into one of the most powerful cities of the ancient world. Today, ______blank he is mainly remembered for a code of laws inscribed on a seven-foot-tall block of stone: the Code of Hammurabi.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) therefore,
B) likewise,
C) however,
D) for instance,
C: however,
On April 5, 1977, Kitty Cone and 150 other disability rights activists entered a San Francisco federal building. After pleading for years—to no effect—for the passage of key antidiscrimination legislation, ______blank until their demands were addressed. Finally, on April 28, the legislation was signed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) pressure on lawmakers increased when the activists staged a sit-in protest
B) a sit-in protest staged by the activists increased pressure on lawmakers
C) lawmakers came under increased pressure when the activists staged a sit-in protest
D) the activists increased pressure on lawmakers by staging a sit-in protest
D: the activists increased pressure on lawmakers by staging a sit-in protest
To discover which fruit varieties were grown in Italy’s Umbria region before the introduction of industrial farming, botanist Isabella Dalla Ragione often turns to centuries-old lists of cooking ingredients. ______blank she analyzes Renaissance paintings of Umbria, as they can provide accurate representations of fruits that were grown there long ago.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) In sum,
B) Instead,
C) Thus,
D) Additionally,
D: Additionally,
Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ______blank
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census.
B) some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.
C) Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were.
D) the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species.
B: some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.
Rejecting the premise that the literary magazine Ebony and Topaz (1927) should present a unified vision of Black American identity, editor Charles S. Johnson fostered his contributors’ diverse perspectives by promoting their authorial autonomy. Johnson’s self-effacement diverged from the editorial stances of W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke, whose decisions for their publications were more ______blank.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) proficient
B) dogmatic
C) ambiguous
D) unpretentious
B: dogmatic
In 1815, while in exile in Jamaica, Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar penned a letter praising England’s republican government and expressing hope that Latin American nations seeking independence from Spain might achieve something similar. The letter was addressed to a local merchant, Henry Cullen; ______blank though, Bolívar’s goal was to persuade political leaders from England and Europe to support his cause.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) additionally,
B) ultimately,
C) accordingly,
D) consequently,
B: ultimately,
Despite being cheap, versatile, and easy to produce, ______blank they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not biodegrade in landfills.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:
B) two problems are associated with commercial plastics:
C) commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that
D) commercial plastics have two associated problems:
D: commercial plastics have two associated problems:
Joshua Hinson, director of the language revitalization program of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, helped produce the world’s first Indigenous-language instructional app, Chickasaw ______blank Chickasaw TV, in 2010; and a Rosetta Stone language course in Chickasaw, in 2015.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) Basic; in 2009, an online television network;
B) Basic; in 2009, an online television network,
C) Basic, in 2009; an online television network,
D) Basic, in 2009, an online television network,
C: Basic, in 2009; an online television network,