Also in 2025 Practice Test A English, question 28.
Passage Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!
Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!
by Zoa L. Swayne
This narrative is about the Nez Perce, an American Indian tribe, in what is now northern Idaho. The tribe is preparing for a gathering before the coming winter.
In the moon of Ta-Yum, the hottest days of summer, when salmon spawn in the little streams and huckleberries ripen in the high mountains, people from many villages of the Chopunnish Nation gathered in the Oyaip Prairie for the work and festivities of their annual camas1 harvest.
From far and near The People came. . . .
Should a stranger enter their homeland and ask, “Where are you from?” the reply was always, “We are Nee-mee-poo, The People who live here in this place.”
It was a time of Lawtiwa-mah-ton—a time of being friends together—when The People came for this last chance to enjoy being together before the Cold Moons kept them close to their fires. The visiting and trading, the foot racing and horse racing, and the gambling and stick games would be remembered and talked about long after they had forgotten the drudgery of digging and roasting camas, picking berries, or drying meat and fish. Lawtiwa-mah-ton! It was good to be friends together.
As was their custom since wahk-kee-ma, a time far back beyond the memory of man, they set up their camps in the same locations their parents and grandparents had occupied before them. Red Bear’s people, from Kamiah, made their camp near the trail that came out of the mountains. Their neighbors in Kamiah Valley, The People from Tee-e-lap-a-lo, had their camp close by. Across the wide meadow, by the great roasting pits, the camps of the Te-wap-poo and Ask-kah-poo were located. The tepees and ish-nash, brush shelters, of other groups nestled in their accustomed areas in and among the pines in such numbers that they encircled the entire meadow land.
Red Bear’s people had traveled all summer with neighboring bands, gathering and preparing roots, picking and drying berries, drying and smoking meat and fish for their winter food supply. Now they were at the Oyaip camp. The women worked hard to dig and cure as many bags of roots as they could during the warm, sunny days, for the sharp night air brought warnings that WARM was going and COLD was coming.
Everyone helped in some way. Most of the men fished or hunted for meat. While many of the women dug and roasted camas, other women and older children picked and dried berries.
And the younger children played. They played at hunting. They played with the babies. They played with their horses and puppies. They learned how to live through their play.
This sun, happiness, peace, and quiet blessed the Red Bear camp. All were busy with their daily tasks, until sudden cries came from the children playing by the trail.
“People coming! People coming! People coming on the trail from the high mountains!” they called as they ran to their elders, who looked sharply at the figures of approaching horsemen.
Were they friends or enemies? Did they bring good news or bad?
“Who can it be? What brings them here?” were the questions in every mind.
“Could they be the four hunters who had gone to Buffalo Country two summers past? Would they have news of the families who had gone long ago to Buffalo Country and never returned?”
It was customary for a hunting party to be gone for more than one season.
“Looks like hunters,” the older men agreed. “Looks like they had good hunting. Maybe our four hunters. [They have] been gone many moons.”
“Looks like five people—not four,” others observed.
Excitement grew as the riders came close enough to be recognized.
“A-a-a-a-a, they are our four hunters! But who is the fifth person?” they asked.
“Looks like a woman. Who is she?”
The hunters rode up to the welcoming crowd, proud to show off the loads of meat, hides, and other trophies of their hunt. They paraded around the encampment for all to see how strong their Hunting Power had been—what great hunters they, themselves, were.
Red Bear’s people rejoiced at their hunters’ success. Good hunters brought good to everybody. The meat meant plenty of food and the hides meant soft-tanned robes to give comfort through the Cold Moons. But it was the sight of the frail figure of the woman that aroused their curiosity. Who was she? Where had she come from? . . .
“Belongs to Red Bear people. Gone then come back,” the hunters said, as they dismounted and unloaded their packs. . . .
Now they could see! She was the daughter of the family gone so long ago! The girl-child who had left came back now—a grown woman.
“Wat-ku-ese!” the women cried. “Gone-from-Home-then-Come-Back. Wat-ku-ese!” And Wat-ku-ese was her name from that time on.
Gentle arms lifted Wat-ku-ese from her horse. The women brought her food and made a place for her to rest. For many suns they cared for her until she became stronger.
One evening Wat-ku-ese told her story for all to hear.
From DO THEM NO HARM!: Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce by Zoa L. Swayne. Published by Caxton Press. Copyright © 1990 by Zoa L. Swayne. Orofino, Idaho and Legacy House, Inc. Orofino, Idaho. All rights reserved.
1camas: a wild, edible plant
Question
In paragraph 8, the author repeats the word “played” most likely to
- Aemphasize how much the adults enjoy observing the children.
- Bshow how everyone finds a way to enjoy being at the gathering.
- Cindicate the variety of activities available at the gathering.
- Dcharacterize the manner in which the children master the work of adults.
Show the answer
Correct answer: D
The question asks what is the most likely reason that the author repeats the word “played” in paragraph 8.
A. Incorrect. Paragraph 7 describes the different tasks that the adults were doing at this time. They were not watching the children play, because they were busy working.
B. Incorrect. While everyone enjoys being at the gathering, the word “played” does not describe the activities of the adults. As described in paragraph 7, the adults are working together at various tasks.
C. Incorrect. The word “played” is used before phrases describing what the children did. It is not used to list activities available for all at the gathering.
D. CORRECT. The word “played” appears before different activities that the children did, such as pretending to hunt, take care of the babies, and take care of the animals. They played by pretending to do adult activities. The last sentence states that the children “learned how to live through their play.”
Question analysis
This word-choice question asks why the author repeats the word “played” in a short paragraph about the younger children at the Nez Perce camp. Students must see what the repetition builds toward and match it to answer choices written in more abstract, formal wording than the simple paragraph itself.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Explaining why an author repeats a word is common grade 7 work on word choice. The paragraph is five short sentences, but the choices are worded abstractly, so students must translate the paragraph’s point into the test’s more formal language.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- How, not what moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- The right answer is reworded minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 5, 885 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 53 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The paragraph is five short sentences, and the repetition is obvious; the challenge is saying what it adds up to. Students who stop at the repeated word see a list of games and settle on variety, while those who read to the final sentence find that the play is practice for adult life. The abstract wording of the right choice has to be matched to that plain final sentence.
How, not what moderate Working it out
The stem asks why “played” is repeated four times, so students must name the effect of the pattern, which the closing sentence, “They learned how to live through their play,” spells out. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Playing at hunting, with babies and with horses copies grown-up work, as the hunters of paragraph 7 show, and students must see that likeness to connect the play with learning adult tasks. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer
The right choice uses none of paragraph 8’s words, while one wrong choice borrows “enjoy being” together from paragraph 4 and another names the “gathering.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Strategy: Read paragraph 8 to the end and ask what the string of “played” sentences adds up to, then match that idea to a choice even if the wording differs.
Traps
- Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
The wrong answers, classified
A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Imagines adults happily watching the children, though paragraph 7 shows the adults busy fishing, hunting, digging and drying food.
B Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Stretches the children’s play to everyone at the gathering, though the adults in paragraph 7 are working, so the repetition describes only the children.
C Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Notices that each “played” introduces a different activity and takes the point to be variety, missing the last sentence about learning to live through play.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
The author uses the word “played” over and over in paragraph 8. Repeating a word is a way to make a point. You need to figure out what point the repetition makes.
Read paragraph 8
Paragraph 8 says: “And the younger children played. They played at hunting. They played with the babies. They played with their horses and puppies. They learned how to live through their play.” The last sentence tells you where the list was going.
See what the play has in common
The children “played at hunting,” which means they pretended to hunt. Caring for babies and horses is grown-up work, too. In paragraph 7, the adults hunt, fish and gather food. So the children copy adult work when they play. The last line says “They learned how to live through their play.” Their games are practice for grown-up life.
Check each choice
- D fits. The repeated word shows how the children learn adult work by playing. To master something means to learn to do it well.
- A: the adults aren’t watching. Paragraph 7 shows them busy working.
- B: only the children play. The adults are working.
- C: the play does vary, but variety isn’t the point. The last sentence is.
Pick the answer
Watch out: C is tempting because each “played” leads to a new activity. But the paragraph builds to learning, not to variety. So the answer is D.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
C is the closest wrong answer, because hunting, babies and horses are different kinds of play. But the paragraph doesn’t stop at the list. It ends with “They learned how to live through their play.” Each kind of play copies adult work, so D explains why the word is repeated.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed (pages 177–178)
