A Life In Traffic
Q1 .Which choice best maintains the sentence pattern already established in the paragraph?
A. NO CHANGE (To alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated.)
B. Coordinating stoplight timing can help alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.
C. Stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.
D. In a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams.
Choice C is the best answer because it most closely maintains the sentence pattern established by the two preceding sentences, which begin with a noun and passive verb phrase (“A subway system is expanded,” “A bike-sharing program is adopted”).
Q6.
A. NO CHANGE (current road as it is designed at this time)
B. current design of the road right now
C. road as it is now currently designed
D. current design of the road
Choice D is the best answer because it offers a clear and concise wording without redundancy.
Question 1.
Over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the
A. reservations a character has about a person he has just met to a growing appreciation that character has of the person’s worth.
B. ambivalence a character feels about his sensitive nature to the character’s recognition of the advantages of having profound emotions.
C. intensity of feeling a character has for another person to the character’s concern that that intensity is not reciprocated.
D. value a character attaches to the wonders of the natural world to a rejection of that sort of beauty in favor of human artistry.
Choice C
Q2.
A. NO CHANGE (occur, it is)
B. occur, they are
C. occurs, they are
D. occurs, it is
Choice D is the best answer because it maintains agreement between pronoun (“it”) and antecedent (“any one”) and between subject (“any one”) and verb (“occurs”).
Q7.
A. NO CHANGE (Next,)
B. For instance,
C. Furthermore,
D. Similarly,
Choice B is the best answer because the transitional phrase “For instance” logically indicates that what follows provides an example related to the previous sentence. “Representatives from the local public health department” is an example of the kinds of people with whom transportation planners work.
In the context of the passage, the author’s use of the phrase “her light step flying to keep time with his long stride”
1) is primarily meant to convey the idea that
A. Ethan and Mattie share a powerful enthusiasm.
B. Matte strives to match the speed at which Ethan works.
C. Mattie and Ethan playfully compete with each other.
D. Ethan walks at a pace that frustrates Mattie.
Choice A
Q3.
A. NO CHANGE (they design)
B. to design
C. designing
D. design
Choice C is the best answer because “designing” maintains parallelism with “evaluating,” “assessing,” and “improving.”
Q8.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
A. Kept, because it provides supporting evidence about the benefits of walking.
B. Kept, because it provides an additional example of a community stakeholder with whom transportation planners work.
C. Deleted, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.
D. Deleted, because it doesn’t provide specific examples of what the numerous benefits of walking are.
Choice C is the best answer because it identifies the best reason the underlined sentence should not be kept. At this point in the passage and paragraph, a general statement about the benefits of walking only serves to interrupt the discussion of the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.
Q 3.
The description in the first paragraph indicates that what Ethan values most about Mattie is her
A. fitness for farm labor.
B. vivacious youth.
C. receptive nature.
D. freedom from worry.
Choice C
Q4.
Which choice results in the most effective transition to the information that follows in the paragraph?
A. NO CHANGE (but some are employed in rural areas.)
B. where job opportunities are more plentiful.
C. and the majority are employed by government agencies.
D. DELETE the underlined portion and end the sentence with a period.
Choice A is the best answer because it effectively signals the shift in the paragraph to the example of the work a transportation planner might perform if he or she were employed in a rural area and asked to consider the effects of building a new factory “on the outskirts of a small town.”
Q9.
A. NO CHANGE (People who pursue careers in transportation planning)
B. People, who pursue careers in transportation planning,
C. People who pursue careers, in transportation planning,
D. People who pursue careers in transportation planning,
Choice A is the best answer because “who pursue careers in transportation planning” is, in context, a restrictive clause that should not be set off with punctuation. “Who pursue careers in transportation planning” is essential information defining who the “people” are.
Q4.
Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to question 3?
A. “Mattie Silver had lived under Ethan’s roof for a year, and from early morning till they met at supper he had frequent chances of seeing her; but no moments in her company were comparable to those when, her arm in his, and her light step flying to keep time with his long stride, they walked back through the night to the farm,” which is the first sentence of paragraph 1.
B. Link to: “He had taken to the girl from the first day, when he had driven over to the Flats to meet her, and she had smiled and waved to him from the train, crying out, ‘You must be Ethan!’ as she jumped down with her bundles, while he reflected, looking over her slight person: ‘She don’t look much on housework, but she ain’t a fretter, anyhow,’” which is the second sentence of paragraph 1.
C. “But it was not only that the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth,” which is the third sentence of paragraph 1.
D. “She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will,” which is the fifth sentence of paragraph 1.
Q5.
A. NO CHANGE (planner’s job,)
B. planner’s job
C. planners job,
D. planners job
Choice B is the best answer because it correctly uses an apostrophe to indicate the possessive and doesn’t introduce any unnecessary punctuation.
Q10.
A. NO CHANGE (varied, including)
B. varied, and including
C. varied and which include
D. varied, which include
Choice A is the best answer because it uses a comma to effectively subordinate the list of varied fields in which transportation planners major.
Q5.
The author includes the descriptions of the sunset, the clouds, and the hemlock shadows (in the eighth sentence of paragraph 2) primarily to
A. suggest the peacefulness of the natural world.
B. emphasize the acuteness of two characters’ sensations.
C. foreshadow the declining fortunes of two characters.
D. offer a sense of how fleeting time can be.
Choice B