2018 Test A English

Read this sentence. During a nightly news segment about a cooking contest, a reporter talked to some people who did the best in the contest. Which revision uses the most…

Which statement best describes the central idea of the passage?

Marsh believed that the people of his time caused harm to the environment because

What is the most likely reason the author uses the word “surprisingly” in paragraph 1?

Which evidence supports the accuracy of Marsh’s theories about nature?

Which detail about Marsh provides support for the author’s statement in paragraph 5?

Which of Marsh’s ideas most influenced the environmental movement of the 1960s?

Read this sentence from paragraph 1. In 1926 an editor at the London Daily News predicted that Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer with eighteen world records and three Olympic medals,…

Which sentence is the best summary of the steps that Ederle took to prepare for her second attempt to swim across the English Channel?

Read this sentence from paragraph 3. Ederle knew that if she did not complete the challenge this time, she might never get the opportunity to set this record, because a…

Which sentence best supports the idea that Ederle succeeded in swimming across the channel because of her innovative approach to the challenge?

In paragraph 4, the word “insurmountable” is used to highlight

Which statement describes how the author’s use of problem-and-solution in paragraph 5 contributes to the development of ideas in the passage?

Paragraph 7 contributes to the development of the central idea of the passage by

Ederle’s victorious swim across the English Channel influenced American attitudes mainly by

Which sentence from the passage best conveys the author’s perspective regarding the impact of Ederle’s accomplishment?

The table contributes to the development of the topic of the passage mainly by

The phrase “those wonderful Swiss and African ones which vote, keep drilled armies,… and dispute about religion” in paragraph 1 shows that the author

The central idea that “the average ant is a sham” (paragraph 1) is conveyed mainly through the

In paragraph 2, how do the words “grabs,” “yanks,” and “tearing away” contribute to the meaning of the excerpt?

Read this text from paragraph 2. He… comes to a weed; it never occurs to him to go around it. No; he must climb it, and he does climb it,…

Which of the following best explains the author’s fascination with the ants?

Read this sentence from paragraph 2. At the end of half an hour he fetches up within six inches of the place he started from, and lays his burden down.…

Which sentence from paragraph 2 best supports the idea that sheer “leather-headedness” (paragraph 2) amounts to “ignorance” and “idiocy” (paragraph 4)?

Read this sentence from paragraph 3. Evidently the friend remarks that a last year’s grasshopper leg is a very noble acquisition, and inquires where he got it. Which statement best…

Read this sentence from paragraph 3. The two perspiring ants inspect it thoughtfully and decide that dried grasshopper legs are a poor sort of property after all, and then each…

How does the presence of the friend in paragraph 3 influence the first ant’s behavior?

Which statement best describes the central idea of the passage?

What was the main way that Karl Mauch’s conclusions about Great Zimbabwe in paragraph 4 affected later archaeological investigations?

Which statement best describes Portuguese explorers’ experience searching for Great Zimbabwe?

What was “one mystery of Great Zimbabwe” (paragraph 6) that had been solved?

Which statement about the Shona people is best supported by the passage?

The conclusions of David Randall-MacIver and Gertrude Caton-Thompson were significant because they

How does the similar construction of the sentence in line 1 and the sentence in line 8 contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Read lines 2–4 and lines 12–14 from the poem. I am what every athlete wants: to remain at the apex of the leap, up in the air. I am the…

Read line 7 from the first stanza. Swallows and ospreys nest in my trusses. How does the line contribute to the development of ideas in the stanza?

Read lines 18–20 from the poem. You are some tears dribbling from a mountain’s eye, running down the pavements of small towns, into the cities, to the sea. What impact…

The comparison to sewing in lines 33–35 helps show that the structure

The last stanza (lines 36–42) conveys a central idea of the poem by

Read lines 41–42 from the poem. Because I am, above all else, patient. I will wait for you. Which of the following supports what is implied in these lines?

How does the poet develop the points of view of the structure and the water?

How does the form of the poem contribute to its meaning?

Which of the following best tells what this passage is about?

What is the most likely reason farmers persisted in replanting their crops?

In the winter that followed the summer of 1816, New Englanders most likely experienced

How does paragraph 3 contribute to the passage?

The author includes the details in paragraph 4 about the eruption of Mount Tambora in order to

Which of the following is implied by the phrase “the global nature of weather” (paragraph 5)?

The cold summer of 1816 was most likely caused by