Also in 2025 Practice Test A English, question 53.
Passage The Benefits of Indoor Plants
The Benefits of Indoor Plants
(1) In an age of endless media content, it is easy to see why people might prefer to stay inside. (2) According to a study sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend an average of 87 percent of their time indoors. (3) Scientists say that this separation between people and nature puts people at risk for physical and psychological issues.
(4) During the process of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and remove many harmful toxins from the air. (5) Spending prolonged periods of time indoors, away from plants, deprives people of these benefits. (6) Air that is not regularly detoxified can lead to a condition known as sick building syndrome. (7) This disorder first came to light in the 1970s when many office workers in the United States began to complain of unexplained flu-like symptoms. (8) Researchers determined the cause to be volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. (9) VOCs are harmful chemicals that are emitted by everyday objects such as carpet, furniture, cleaning products, and computers. (10) The NASA Clean Air Study found a simple way to remove a significant number of VOCs within a 24-hour period: add plants to indoor spaces.
(11) Adding plants to indoor spaces has psychological benefits too. (12) Research has long linked time spent in natural environments with increased energy and feelings of contentment. (13) While being outdoors is an excellent option for improving a person’s mental health, recent research has indicated that encountering natural elements while indoors can also help. (14) To experience the maximum benefit of natural elements, experts suggest placing at least one live plant per 100 square feet of home or office space.
(15) Connecting with nature, even just by being near an indoor plant, is a significant factor in a person’s well-being. (16) Sitting in front of an electronic screen all day isn’t natural, and today’s workers need to get up and get outdoors. (17) Richard Ryan, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, puts it this way: “Nature is something within which we flourish, so having it be more a part of our lives is critical, especially when we live and work in built environments.”
Question
Which concluding sentence should follow sentence 17 to best support the information presented in the passage?
- ABecause indoor plants absorb the carbon dioxide in our air and release the oxygen we need to breathe, they are vital to our wholeness and wellness.
- BExperts say that adding a Boston fern, a spider plant, or an aloe vera plant is a good place to start if you want to begin to incorporate nature into your home or office.
- CMore people should consider bringing natural elements inside to improve general wellness and reverse some of the negative effects of an indoor-centered society.
- DAs one study has confirmed, houseplants are a wise investment because they can remove almost 90 percent of the toxins in the air within the span of 24 hours.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks for the concluding sentence that should follow sentence 17 to best support the information presented in the passage.
A. Incorrect. Although the sentence describes plants as “vital to our wholeness and wellness,” the detail about the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air is overly specific and does not capture the broader argument presented in the passage (that placing plants indoors “is a significant factor in a person’s well-being” [sentence 15]).
B. Incorrect. The sentence’s reference to particular types of plants suitable for indoor spaces supports the idea of incorporating nature into a home or office, but the sentence does not address the benefits people can experience for doing so and thus does not present a logical conclusion for the information in the passage.
C. CORRECT. The sentence directly presents the argument of the passage (“More people should consider bringing natural elements inside”) and supports the central ideas in the second and third paragraphs relating to the health and psychological benefits of having indoor plants.
D. Incorrect. Although the sentence notes the positive impact that houseplants can have on air quality, the sentence does not logically follow the preceding information about the overall benefits to a person’s health and well-being.
Question analysis
This conclusion question asks which sentence should follow the last line of the indoor-plants passage, a quotation from a psychology professor about nature and people who live and work in built environments. Students must choose an ending that fits the passage as a whole, not only its last paragraph, and every option sounds like a reasonable closing line when read on its own.
- NYS standards
- 7W2e concluding informative writing
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Choosing a concluding sentence that reflects a whole passage is standard grade 7 writing work. The passage is seventeen plain sentences, so keeping its main points in view is manageable, and the task matches typical grade 7 revision.
- 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
- Evidence in several places moderate
- The right answer is reworded minor
- Evidence
- Answered from the whole text
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 12, 346 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 125 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
Three of the endings sound like conclusions: one praises plants as “vital,” one offers practical first steps, and one cites a striking statistic. Only one, though, restates the passage's whole argument, that people should bring nature indoors for their health. Students lose the point when an ending repeats a single fact, such as photosynthesis or toxin removal, or adds new specifics, and the question rewards weighing each ending against all four paragraphs.
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
A fitting ending must gather the air-cleaning benefits of sentences 4–10, the psychological benefits of 11–14 and the closing case for keeping nature near, ideas that lie across three paragraphs. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer
The key speaks of “natural elements” and “an indoor-centered society,” new wording for the passage's argument, while two wrong endings repeat its carbon dioxide, oxygen and toxins. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Strategy: List what each paragraph contributes, then choose the ending that sums up the passage's message rather than repeating a single fact or adding a new one.
Traps
- Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
- 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 Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Likes the conclusive “vital to our wholeness and wellness,” but the ending rests on one air-quality fact from sentence 4 and leaves out the psychological benefits.
B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Likes ending on a practical first step, but naming a Boston fern, a spider plant and aloe vera adds new details and says nothing about why plants help.
D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Returns to the toxin-removal finding of paragraph 2 with a new figure, “almost 90 percent,” narrowing the ending to air quality and dropping the mental-health benefits.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
You need a concluding sentence, the last line of the passage. A good conclusion sums up the main point of the whole passage. It doesn’t add new facts. For example, an essay about recess might end: Recess helps kids’ bodies and minds, so schools should keep it.
Sum up the passage
- Sentences 1–3: People spend most of their time indoors, away from nature, and that puts their health at risk.
- Sentences 4–10: Indoor plants clean the air.
- Sentences 11–14: Indoor plants help the mind.
- Sentences 15–17: Being near nature, even one plant, matters for well-being.
So the main point is: bring nature indoors to help both body and mind.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. It rests on one fact from sentence 4, about carbon dioxide and oxygen. It leaves out the benefits for the mind.
- B is wrong. It adds new details, three kinds of plants. It doesn’t say why plants help.
- C is right. “Bringing natural elements inside” is the passage’s fix. Wellness means good health, of body and mind. “An indoor-centered society” recalls sentences 1 and 2, about people staying inside.
- D is wrong. It brings back only the toxins, with a new number, “almost 90 percent.” It drops the benefits for the mind.
Watch out: A sounds like an ending because it calls plants “vital to our wholeness and wellness.” But its reason covers only the air we breathe.
Choose the answer
Only one ending sums up the whole passage: people should bring nature inside for their health. So the answer is C.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer, because it sounds like a strong ending. But it repeats one fact, that plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. The passage also argues that plants help the mind. C covers the whole argument: bring nature inside to improve wellness.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “The Benefits of Indoor Plants” as printed (page 60)
