Passage New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry
New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry
(1) Residents of New York City cannot help but notice that the buildings they are surrounded by are predominantly made of brick. (2) Indeed, one author described the bricks that make up some of New York City’s most recognizable landmarks, including the Empire State Building and the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge, as “an inescapable presence.” (3) Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions. (4) Why was so much brick used in buildings constructed during the century before World War II? (5) The answer involves an explosion in New York City’s population that caused an increase in demand for bricks starting in the mid-1800s and lasting into the 1940s that affected the area more than 100 miles up the Hudson River Valley toward Albany. (6) When demand later declined, the industry would entirely disappear.
(7) New York City’s appetite for brick was fueled by surging population and demand for safer building materials. (8) The city’s population ballooned from about 313,000 people in 1840 to more than 7 million a century later. (9) Following large, destructive fires in the 1830s, the city had enacted laws requiring the use of fire-resistant materials. (10) Bricks turned out to be an inexpensive way for builders to quickly throw together a lot of structures while keeping building owners and safety inspectors happy.
(11) The brickmaking industry in the Hudson Valley skyrocketed. (12) At the industry’s peak, approximately 130 brick factories crammed themselves into a 120-mile stretch along the Hudson River. (13) These factories employed much of the region’s population. (14) Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City. (15) Even though the factories operated only during the summers, their production was immense. (16) Hudson Valley factories shipped over a billion bricks on barges down the river to New York City annually. (17) In fact, The New York Times declared, “It’s fairly safe to assume that any brick building constructed between 1800 and 1950 includes some form of sediment from the banks of the Hudson River.”
(18) History has proven, however, that boom times eventually end. (19) Shifting architectural trends halted not only the Hudson Valley’s brickmaking boom, but its entire industry. (20) Starting early in the twentieth century, architects and builders increasingly favored steel, glass, and concrete instead of brick. (21) By 1979, reduced demand for brick had driven every Hudson Valley brick factory out of business.
(22) The Hudson Valley’s brickmaking legacy lives on in the architecture of New York City. (23) Throughout the city, famous and ordinary buildings stand as evidence of the remarkable productivity achieved by the Valley’s brickmakers. (24) The brick buildings surrounding New Yorkers today serve as a reminder that, as one amateur brick historian put it, “The skyline of New York City used to be the landscape of the Hudson River Valley.”
Question
Which revision of sentence 10 would best maintain the style established in the passage?
- ABuilders turned to brick, which was an affordable material that met safety standards while satisfying the city’s large demand for buildings.
- BFiguring out that bricks were inexpensive, builders used tons of them to satisfy inspectors and the city’s desperate construction needs.
- CBuilders favored brick as a pleasingly economical way to meet significant construction demand while following municipal regulations.
- DOnce builders realized that low-cost brick was a law-abiding way to meet the city’s building needs, they hardly ever used any other materials.
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The question asks for the revision of sentence 10 that would best maintain the style established in the passage.
A. CORRECT. This sentence maintains the style established in the passage because it uses clear, precise, and formal language. The phrases “affordable material” and “met safety standards” are accurate and appropriate to the historical and technical context. The word “satisfying” is a precise replacement for “keeping building owners . . . happy” from the original sentence, preserving both the meaning and the formal tone of the passage.
B. Incorrect. Although the sentence conveys the same basic ideas as the passage, the phrases “Figuring out” and “tons of them” are informal and inconsistent with the passage’s formal style. In addition, the word “desperate” introduces a subjective and emotional tone, whereas the passage maintains an objective, fact-based style.
C. Incorrect. Although this sentence incorporates some formal vocabulary, the phrase “pleasingly economical” introduces an opinion that is inconsistent with formal historical writing. The passage’s style avoids subjective language and focuses on precise, factual descriptions of events and conditions. The phrase “municipal regulations” is also more technical and at the same time less clear and precise than the style established in the passage.
D. Incorrect. This sentence does not maintain the passage’s formal style because the phrase “law-abiding way” is awkward and informal for a historical description, and the expression “hardly ever” is conversational. The passage uses precise, objective language when describing building practices and material choices, avoiding casual or conversational phrasing.
Question analysis
This style question asks which revision of sentence 10 of the passage “New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry” best keeps the passage’s style. The original says bricks let builders “quickly throw together a lot of structures” while keeping owners and inspectors “happy.” Students compare four rewrites for wording that sounds casual, emotional or out of place.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Choosing wording that fits a passage’s formal style is regular grade 7 writing work. The four rewrites are single sentences on a familiar subject, but they differ in small word choices that must each be weighed, a typical grade 7 demand.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Every choice must be checked minor
- Something you must already know minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one sentence or line
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 12, 465 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 94 words.
- Corrected from the DOE handbook
- A misquotation of the passage in the explanation was corrected.
- 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 10 is the passage’s most casual sentence, so the task is to raise its register without overshooting. Students who equate formality with long words fall for the rewrite with “pleasingly economical” and “municipal regulations,” which sounds official but adds an opinion. Others overlook the chatty “tons of them,” or miss that “hardly ever used any other materials” claims more than the original does. The plain, accurate key can look too ordinary to be best.
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The “pleasingly economical” rewrite carries the same three ideas as the key, low cost, heavy demand and the rules, in grander words; only its opinion word and the stiffer “municipal regulations” set it apart. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Each rewrite hides its off-key words among neutral ones, “tons of them” and “desperate,” “pleasingly,” “hardly ever,” so every phrase must be checked, not the overall sound. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Something you must already know minor Working it out
Students must already know what counts as formal written English, and the passage’s own lively verbs, “ballooned,” “skyrocketed” and “crammed themselves,” make its style harder to pin down. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Strategy: Spot what makes sentence 10 sound casual, then check every phrase of each rewrite, not just its overall sound, for chatty, emotional or opinionated wording, and make sure the facts stay the same.
Traps
- Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.
- Changes the meaning: A revision is correct English but no longer says what the writer meant.
The wrong answers, classified
B Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Keeps the meaning but slips into casual talk, “Figuring out” and “tons of them,” and adds the emotional “desperate,” none of which fits the passage’s factual voice.
C Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Mistakes elevated words for good style: “municipal regulations” sounds official, but “pleasingly economical” injects an opinion and the wording is less clear than the passage’s plain statements.
D Changes the meaning (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Overlooks the conversational “hardly ever” and claims builders almost never used other materials, far more than sentence 10, which says only that brick was cheap, quick and acceptable to inspectors.
What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why
- Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option A calls “satisfying” a replacement for “keeping owners happy” from the original sentence. Sentence 10 ends “while keeping building owners and safety inspectors happy,” so the site now quotes “keeping building owners . . . happy.”
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This question is about style, the way a passage sounds. You need a new version of sentence 10 that sounds like the rest of the passage. The passage is an informational article. It uses clear, serious, factual language. It has no slang or chatty phrases, and the writer doesn’t share feelings.
Spot the casual words in sentence 10
Sentence 10 says: “Bricks turned out to be an inexpensive way for builders to quickly throw together a lot of structures while keeping building owners and safety inspectors happy.” Three phrases sound like everyday talk: “throw together,” “a lot of,” and “keeping … happy.” Here is the rule with a made-up example. Casual: The kids threw together a ton of posters. Formal: The students quickly made many posters.
See how A keeps the meaning
Choice A says the same things in formal words. “Inexpensive” becomes “affordable material.” Keeping the safety inspectors happy becomes “met safety standards.” The word “satisfying” takes the place of keeping the building owners happy. And the many buildings become the city’s “large demand for buildings.” Nothing is added, and no feelings slip in.
Check each choice
- A is right. It is clear, exact and serious, like the rest of the passage.
- B is wrong. “Figuring out” and “tons of them” are chatty. “Desperate” adds strong feeling.
- C is wrong. “Pleasingly” gives the writer’s opinion. “Municipal regulations” is stiff and less clear than plain words like city rules.
- D is wrong. “Hardly ever” is chatty, and “law-abiding way” is awkward. It also claims builders almost never used other materials. Sentence 10 never says that.
Watch out: C uses long, official-sounding words, so it can seem the most formal. But formal writing still avoids opinions.
Choose the answer
Only one version sounds like the rest of the passage and keeps the meaning. So the answer is A, “Builders turned to brick, which was an affordable material that met safety standards while satisfying the city’s large demand for buildings.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
C is the closest wrong answer. It carries the same three ideas as A: low cost, high demand and the rules. But “pleasingly economical” tells you how the writer feels about brick. The passage reports facts and doesn’t judge. A says the same things plainly and without an opinion.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry” as printed (page 64)
