Command of Evidence Textual Flashcards

A student claims: 'The author believes that technology has made people less capable of sustained attention.' Which quotation from a passage would best support this claim?

Answer: 'Studies indicate that the average attention span has declined from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds today, a change researchers attribute to digital media habits.'

Choice B provides specific data (declining attention span) and directly attributes the decline to digital media habits — directly supporting the claim about technology's effect on attention.

A writer argues: 'The town council's decision to ban plastic bags was largely symbolic with minimal environmental impact.' Which piece of evidence would most undermine this argument?

Answer: 'Within one year of the ban, plastic bag waste in the local river decreased by 72 percent.'

A 72% decrease in plastic bag waste in the local river directly contradicts the claim that the ban had minimal environmental impact.

Read this passage: 'Urban green spaces — parks, gardens, and tree-lined streets — have been shown to lower stress hormone levels in nearby residents. One study found that people living within 300 meters of a park had cortisol levels 12% lower than those without nearby green space.' A student wants to support the claim that green spaces improve mental health. Which sentence from the passage provides the strongest textual evidence?

Answer: 'have been shown to lower stress hormone levels in nearby residents'

The claim that green spaces 'lower stress hormone levels' directly connects the topic (green spaces) to mental health improvement (reduced stress hormones).

A student is writing about how automation threatens manufacturing jobs. Which sentence would provide the best textual evidence for this argument?

Answer: 'The manufacturing sector employed 19.6 million Americans in 1979, compared to 12.8 million today, with economists citing automation as a primary driver of the decline.'

Specific employment figures showing a 6.8 million drop attributed to automation directly support the argument that automation threatens manufacturing jobs.

A passage states: 'The gold rush transformed California in ways that were both spectacular and devastating. The population exploded from 14,000 in 1848 to 250,000 by 1852. Simultaneously, hydraulic mining destroyed thousands of acres of farmland and deposited sediment that clogged rivers for decades.' A student claims: 'The gold rush had significant negative environmental consequences.' Which sentence from the passage best supports this claim?

Answer: 'Simultaneously, hydraulic mining destroyed thousands of acres of farmland and deposited sediment that clogged rivers for decades.'

The sentence describing destroyed farmland and clogged rivers directly provides textual evidence of specific negative environmental consequences.

A student reads a passage arguing that social media companies should be regulated like public utilities. The passage includes this quote from a researcher: 'When a platform controls the information environment of three billion users, its decisions about content moderation carry the same weight as public policy.' How does this quote function as evidence in the argument?

Answer: It supports the regulatory argument by equating platform influence with government-level policy impact

The quote equates the platform's influence ('same weight as public policy') to government-scale impact — supporting the argument for regulation as a public utility.

Read this passage: 'Bilingual children develop executive function skills — the ability to switch between tasks, inhibit distractions, and manage working memory — earlier than monolingual peers. Researchers attribute this advantage to the constant mental exercise of managing two language systems simultaneously.' A student claims: 'Learning two languages simultaneously offers cognitive advantages.' Which part of the passage most directly supports this claim?

Answer: 'Bilingual children develop executive function skills'

The opening clause directly states the cognitive benefit (executive function skills) that bilingual children develop — the most direct support for 'cognitive advantages.'

A student argues: 'The author of this passage is more sympathetic to small farmers than to large agricultural corporations.' Which textual evidence would best support this interpretation?

Answer: 'Small farms cultivate community, stewardship of the land, and ways of life that cannot be measured in bushels per acre,' the author writes.

The quote using emotionally positive language about small farms ('community,' 'stewardship,' 'ways of life') reveals authorial sympathy — value-laden language absent in descriptions of corporations.