Screen Time
Which sentence best states a central idea in “Household Robots Are Here, but Where Are They Going?”
The most promising use for robots in the near future is as smart home hubs.
Read the excerpt from “The Key to Stop Bullying: Popular Kids.”
For all of the efforts schools put into reducing bullying, there’s actually a dearth of rigorous evidence about what makes for effective anti-bullying intervention. The classic approach—pile kids into an auditorium and lecture them on the dangers of bullying, perhaps including a sad story about its effects along the way—doesn’t appear to really work.
Which option best analyzes the rhetorical effect of the author’s style in the excerpt?
The statement “perhaps including a sad story about its effects along the way” creates a mocking tone that ridicules previous anti-bullying efforts, thus supporting the author’s claim that new efforts are needed.
Read the excerpt from “How Much Can Electric Cars Impact Climate Change?,” which discusses Southern California Edison’s role in making charging stations available.
Edison has asked the California Public Utilities Commission to authorize the utility to partner with private companies to build 30,000 electric-vehicle public charging stations in Southern California. The application may be approved this year, he said.
What option best describes the text structure implied in the excerpt?
problem-and-solution
You are writing an essay about a novel and want to express that one of the major themes is unrequited love. The paragraph’s first sentence is:
The novel’s theme concerns unrequited love.
Which sentence could you add next to provide a context clue to the meaning of unrequited?
Despite his feelings for Laila, Noah knows he needs to respect her dreams of studying abroad in Taiwan.
Which word shares a root with the word veracity?
very
Read the sentence.
As the weather turned to pouring rain, we yelled, “Carpe diem!” and decided to play outside in the little streams that were collecting on the sidewalk.
The words carpe diem are a Latin phrase that means “seize the day.” In the context of the sentence, which is the best definition of carpe diem?
enjoy the present
Which sentence demonstrates writing in a style and tone that are most appropriate for an audience of professional scientists?
The results of the experiment showed a quantifiable decrease in oxygen levels.
Read the dictionary entry.
incumbent
adjective 1. imposed as an obligation or duty; obligatory 2. lying, leaning, or resting on something else 3. currently holding a specified office
noun 4. a person who holds an office
Read the sentence.
The incumbent senator was the favored candidate in the state’s primary election.
Which definition of incumbent fits the meaning and part of speech of the word as it is used in the sentence?
definition 3
Which word is a synonym of the word candor?
honesty
Read the excerpt from the concluding paragraph of an argumentative speech.
By calling and writing our representatives in Congress, we can make our voices heard.
Which option correctly identifies the element being used in the excerpt?
call to action
Assume you are writing a summary of the article “Video Games in the Age of Cell Phones.” Which excerpt from the text includes key details about Playdots and Dots that you would want to include?
Among the things Playdots learned from Dots are that a mobile game can be wildly popular without actually being wildly profitable, and that the business side of the mobile-games game is a lot more complicated than it looks.
Read the paragraph.
Exercise can be an excellent method for fighting depression. Endorphins—chemicals naturally produced in the human brain—release into the body during exercise. These are the same hormones that are released into the body when people laugh. Studies have shown that people laugh less as they age. Endorphins decrease feelings of pain, fatigue, and stress.
Which sentence from the paragraph is not relevant to the main idea?
Studies have shown that people laugh less as they age.
Read the excerpt from “President Kennedy’s Moon Speech.”
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own.
Which option best conveys the meaning of the metaphor “We set sail on this new sea” as it is used in the excerpt?
The metaphor presents the idea of space travel as an adventurous journey of discovery.
Your teacher requires that you write an argumentative essay on the subject of privacy. You have narrowed the topic and created your claim:
Personal lives of celebrities and politicians should be kept private.
Which evidence would provide the most relevant support for your claim?
Anecdotes from victims explaining how public attention has negatively impacted their mental health.
Which option most accurately explains the constitutional principle of rule of law?
Each citizen is empowered by individual freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
Read the paragraph.
Desert ecosystems are typically harsh environments for their occupants. Excessive heat and little rainfall make survival difficult. Animals in the North American deserts include tortoises, jackrabbits, and kangaroo rats. Life forms inhabiting the desert must adapt accordingly.
What information from the paragraph is not relevant to the main idea of the paragraph?
Animals in the North American deserts include tortoises, jackrabbits, and kangaroo rats.
Read the sentence from the article “Among Teens, Sleep Deprivation an Epidemic.”
Adolescents are also entering a period in which they are striving for autonomy and want to make their own decisions, including when to go to sleep.
Which words in the sentence provide a context clue for the meaning of the prefix auto- as it is used in the word autonomy?
their own
Suppose you are writing an essay titled “Affluence in 16th-Century England.” Which sentence from the first paragraph would provide a context clue to the meaning of the word affluence?
Some nobles owned multiple estates.
Read the claim.
Year-round schooling should be instituted nationwide.
Which option provides an irrelevant counterclaim?
Quality teachers are important to student success in school.
Read the sentence.
The realization that the sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes, and the ebbing and flowing of the tides can inspire belief in an orderly universe.
Which option shows the best way to rewrite the sentence?
The realization that the sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes, and the tides ebb and flow can inspire belief in an orderly universe.
Read the sentence.
“Virtual Reality Gets Real” shows that many ideas about how virtual reality can affect human biology are still only theories.
What textual evidence supports this statement?
Virtual reality could then become akin to the Singularity, a concept described by Ray Kurzweil, a futurist and Google engineer, among others: a way for our minds to separate from our bodies and, uploaded into a digital realm, live on even as our physical selves grow old and die.
Which excerpt from “Everyday Survival” most effectively helps the author to build credibility?
Researchers such as Elaine Hatfield at the University of Hawaii and Paul Ekman at the National Institutes of Health have studied nonverbal communication since the 1960s and concluded that it conveys essential information, which we ignore at our peril.
Read the dictionary entries.
gibe n. an insulting or taunting remark
jibe v. to fit, be in accord with, agree
jive n. jazz music; the jargon of jazz musicians or fans
Which sentence uses gibe correctly?
An unhappy spectator yelled a gibe at the goalkeeper.
Read the passage from a science lesson.
Human respiration is a chemical process that results in the release of energy. In this process, organic compounds transform into different compounds through exergonic reactions.
Which term in the passage would most likely be used only in a scientific context?
exergonic
Read the sentence.
Soon everyone knew that Laney would be traveling to Paris for the international art competition and had won the art contest.
Which is the best way to revise the sentence?
Soon everyone knew that Laney had won the art contest and would be traveling to Paris for the international art competition.