ACCORDING TO THE PASSAGE, THE AUTHOR WOULD PREFER TO LIVEA. WHERE P...

4.

According to the passage, the author would prefer to live

a.

where people treat each other with dignity and kindness.

b.

where there is good farm land to raise crops.

c.

where there are employment opportunities.

d.

where there is good fire, police, and sanitation service.

Remember the original question? You were directed to read the passage, answer the questions, and then

give two reasons why the author thinks the city or the country is the better place to live. Did you notice that

the multiple-choice questions helped you look for the answer? The first question asked you to identify the

main idea of the passage. Did you say that choice b

was correct? If so, you were right. Choice a

is not stated

in the text; choice c

is mentioned in the passage but it is not the main idea; choice d

is an incorrect conclu-

sion not stated in the passage. Choice b

is the only one that draws a conclusion based on the details. The last

sentence of the passage is actually the topic sentence of the paragraph and could be the thesis statement of a

longer essay. So, if you’re following the format for answering questions that we laid out before, you have the

first part of your answer figured out: the topic.

Question 2 asks for one reason that the author does not want to live in the city. Notice that the ques-

tion itself directs you to answer the essay piece in a certain way by telling you which place the author thinks

is best. If you said choice a, you were correct. Choice b

is not correctly inferred from the passage. It does say

that there is poverty and homelessness in the city but it does not say that all people who live in the city become

that way. Choices c

and d

are not conclusions reached in the passage. Notice that you have one of the two

reasons why the author wants to live in the country, and you can use this for your written response.

Question 3 asks for you to figure out the meaning of the word humanely. If you said choice a,

you were

correct. Choices b,

c, and d

are simply incorrect based on the main idea of the passage. Notice that this response

helps you define a second reason for the author’s preference to live in the country. If not being able to treat

people in a humane way—with dignity and compassion—is a negative fact of city life, then it is a reason to

live in the country. See how the question leads you to the essay answer?

Question 4 is yet another helping hand for you. If you chose a, then you actually have the concluding

sentence for your essay. Choices

b,

c, and d

may all be true, but they aren’t mentioned in the essay.

Let’s go back and look at the directions for the original question and follow the plan for answering

questions.