This question has two parts. Answer Part A, and then answer Part B.
,begin emphasis,Part A,end emphasis,
Which statement ,begin emphasis,best,end emphasis, expresses a central idea of the passage?
Question 1 Answer options with 4 options
1.
Paper was both expensive and scarce in the American colonies because the British taxed it so severely.
2.
Newspapers in the American colonies were the main force behind the boycott of imported British paper.
3.
The use of rags to create paper was the primary cause of the shortage of paper in the American colonies.
4.
The shortage of paper was a serious problem in the American colonies before and after the start of the war.
Question 2
,begin emphasis,Part B,end emphasis,
Select ,begin emphasis,two,end emphasis, excerpts from the passage that ,begin emphasis,best,end emphasis, help develop the correct central idea from Part A.
Question 2 Answer options with 6 options
1.
"This required all American colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper, including shipping documents, legal documents, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, and even playing cards." (Paragraph 2)
2.
"newspapers themselves became committed, for the first time, to printing on American-made paper" (Paragraph 5)
3.
"Americans vowed to content themselves with inferior American paper, even if, due to the competition created by the Townshend Act boycott, it cost more." (Paragraph 7)
4.
"the thirty-four paper mills operating in the thirteen colonies in the 1760s did not have the capacity to meet America's paper needs" (Paragraph 7)
5.
"Once the Revolution began and British imports cut off, American paper mills, by this time numbering eighty, still could not meet the demand for paper." (Paragraph 8)
6.
"It took about twenty tons of rags to keep one vat operating full time for a year." (Paragraph 9)
Part A: The statement that best expresses the central idea of the passage is Option 4: The shortage of paper was a serious problem in the American colonies before and after the start of the war.
Part B: The two excerpts from the passage that best help develop the correct central idea are:
1. "the thirty-four paper mills operating in the thirteen colonies in the 1760s did not have the capacity to meet America's paper needs" (Paragraph 7)
2. "Once the Revolution began and British imports cut off, American paper mills, by this time numbering eighty, still could not meet the demand for paper." (Paragraph 8)