Passage Martial Arts for the Mind and Body
Martial Arts for the Mind and Body
(1) The martial arts blend a series of physical movements with strategic mental discipline so that practitioners can defend themselves, physically defeat an opponent, or both. (2) Historians are unsure of exactly when and where martial arts were first used. (3) Martial arts have been practiced by several different societies for many centuries. (4) Martial arts such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do, and judo are still taught and practiced as methods of self-defense, but they offer students more than that. (5) The study of martial arts can provide students with a way to enhance their mental discipline as well as their physical fitness.
(6) Discipline, focus, and respect are important qualities for everyone to have. (7) However, for most people these qualities are not innate; they must be learned and practiced. (8) The study of martial arts can provide an opportunity to develop these skills. (9) Students are rewarded for their dedication by passing tests and advancing to higher ranks or levels. (10) For example, in a typical tae kwon do class, students learn discipline by diligently practicing moves, improve focus by listening carefully, and demonstrate respect by bowing to the instructor and following directions.
(11) For teenagers, martial arts classes provide a safe and structured environment for gaining physical skills, building confidence, and enjoying a sense of community. (12) A lot of teens go through hard situations as they try to do well in school and in life. (13) A martial arts class can provide teens with a physical outlet for stress while also challenging them mentally. (14) Participating in a martial arts program also helps children and teens focus on self-improvement rather than on competition. (15) Progressing through levels of achievement involves mastering more physically demanding techniques. (16) It requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals. (17) Students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.
(18) Adults who practice martial arts can experience many of the same benefits that younger people do, but perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness. (19) Adult martial arts students often see changes in their body within weeks of beginning a program.
(20) For people interested in studying a martial art, there are many ways to learn and practice. (21) In addition to private studios, community recreation centers often offer low-cost or free martial arts classes. (22) There are even online videos that introduce students to the basic concepts. (23) People should study martial arts.
Question
Which sentence would best follow and support sentence 18?
- AAdult students gain discipline, focus, self-control, and respect, which are qualities that help them advance in their careers.
- BMany adults initially train in a martial art simply to get exercise without realizing that the training also helps develop other skills.
- CThe exercise involved in training helps people strengthen their heart, boost endurance, improve balance, and develop muscle tone.
- DPeople who commit to training in the martial arts are usually concerned about improving their overall physical health.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks for the sentence that would best follow and support sentence 18.
A. Incorrect. Though the idea of advancing one’s career is certainly appealing for adults, this benefit is not directly tied to “health and fitness” and, therefore, does not support sentence 18.
B. Incorrect. While the passage does discuss potential benefits related to discipline, focus, and confidence (sentences 6 and 11), sentence 18 is solely related to health and fitness benefits and should not be followed by a description of “other skills.”
C. CORRECT. This option is correct because sentence 18 conveys that the greatest benefit of practicing martial arts is “health and fitness,” and the sentence illustrates some specific ways that martial arts training helps improve physical fitness—“strengthen their heart, boost endurance, improve balance, and develop muscle tone.”
D. Incorrect. Some readers may choose this option because sentence 5, sentence 15, and sentence 18 discuss the physical aspects of practicing martial arts, but the idea that people who practice martial arts are concerned about their overall health does not provide further details about the connection between training and health.
Question analysis
This supporting-details question asks which sentence would best follow and support sentence 18 of the martial arts passage, which says adults gain many of the same benefits as younger students and names the greatest of them. Every choice is about adults or training, so students must match the exact point of sentence 18 rather than its general subject.
- NYS standards
- 7W2b developing a topic
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Adding a detail that supports a given sentence is a regular grade 7 writing task. Sentence 18 names its focus plainly and its paragraph is only two sentences long, so the demand is typical, though two choices stay close to the topic.
- Estimated difficulty
- Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- How sentences fit together moderate
- A very close wrong answer minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 11, 402 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 84 words.
- Corrected from the DOE handbook
- The DOE printed this question’s explanation after a different question; the site matches the question with its own explanation.
- 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
Sentence 18 states its focus plainly, so the question mostly tests whether students hold to it. Two choices drift back to the mental side of the passage, discipline, focus and other skills, which paragraphs 2 and 3 have already covered. The closest wrong answer stays on physical health but describes the people who train, so it adds nothing about how training improves fitness; the key is the only one to list effects on the body.
How sentences fit together moderate Working it out
Sentence 18 names one benefit, “perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness,” so the next sentence must give details of that benefit, not of the mental ones the passage covered earlier. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
The choice about health-minded trainees and the key both concern training and physical health; the key says what the exercise does for the body, the other only what trainees care about. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Strategy: Reread sentence 18 and note which benefit it singles out, then ask of each choice whether it gives specific details about that benefit or shifts to another one.
Traps
- Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
The wrong answers, classified
A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Lists discipline, focus, self-control and respect, qualities from paragraph 2, and adds careers, but sentence 18 singles out health and fitness for adults.
B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Starts with adults training “to get exercise,” which sounds on topic, but its point is the other skills they gain without realizing it, a turn away from fitness.
D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Stays on physical health but says what trainees care about, not what training does for them, so it gives no detail about the benefit sentence 18 names.
What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why
- Explanation: In the DOE’s explanations appendix, the explanation printed after this question belongs to question 40 (“the concluding sentence that best replaces sentence 23 and supports the topic presented in the passage”) and marks B correct, and this question’s explanation (“the sentence that would best follow and support sentence 18”) is printed after question 40, marking C correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer B. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: C, because sentence 18 names health and fitness as the greatest benefit for adults, and Option C gives specific ways that training improves fitness.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks which sentence should come right after sentence 18 and support it. To support a sentence is to give details that back it up. So first find what sentence 18 is about.
Read sentence 18
Sentence 18 says adults “can experience many of the same benefits that younger people do, but perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness.” A benefit is a good result. So the next sentence should give details about health and fitness. It should show how training helps the body.
Name the rule
A supporting sentence stays on the same point and adds details. For example: Dogs make good pets. They are loyal, playful and easy to train. The second sentence gives details about the first. A sentence about cats would drift off the point.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Discipline, focus and respect are qualities of the mind. Careers are off the point too.
- B is wrong. It starts with exercise, then turns to “other skills.”
- C is right. It names four ways training helps the body. Endurance means being able to keep going for a long time. Muscle tone means firm, strong muscles.
- D is wrong. It tells what people who train care about, not what training does for them.
Watch out: D stays on physical health, so it looks on topic. But it gives no details about how training improves fitness.
Choose the answer
Only C gives details of the health and fitness benefit. So the answer is C, “The exercise involved in training helps people strengthen their heart, boost endurance, improve balance, and develop muscle tone.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is the closest wrong answer, because it also talks about physical health. But it describes the people who train, not the benefit. Sentence 18 names health and fitness as the greatest benefit. C backs that up with real effects on the body: a stronger heart, endurance, balance and muscle tone.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Martial Arts for the Mind and Body” as printed (page 52)
