Part 1: Text Details and Context Clues in an Informational Text Answers

Consider the paragraph and image.In the early 1900s, a handy invention lightened laundry loads by squeezing water out of garments. Homemakers could attach a clothes wringer to a bucket with built-in vice clamps and crank individual pieces of laundry through two sturdy rollers.

Which sentence best establishes visual details?

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans.”The Portuguese galleons, cutting out all the middlemen and able to carry much bigger cargoes, offered a totally new kind of trading opportunity. They and their Dutch and English competitors, who followed later in the sixteenth century, carried gold and ivory to Europe and in return brought commodities from all over the world that were greatly valued by the Oba’s court, including coral from the Mediterranean, cowry shells from the Indian Ocean to serve as money, cloth from the Far East and, from Europe itself, larger quantities of brass than had ever before reached West Africa. This was the raw material from which the Benin plaques were made.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans.”Whatever the real facts, the British, in ostensible revenge for the killing, organized a punitive expedition which raided Benin City, exiled the Oba and created the protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

What type of context clue offers a word with the same meaning as an unfamiliar word?

Read the excerpt from "Ship's Chronometer from HMS Beagle.”Just as people adopted a common standard time, so numerous aspects of working and daily life were becoming rigidly fixed by the clock, from clocking on at work to school hours and tea-time – which is the subject of our next chapter.

What type of context clue offers information about the function, features, or appearance of an unfamiliar word?

Read the paragraph.Preparation is the key to success when hiking. Hikers must research weather conditions and wear appropriate layers of clothing to avoid discomfort. Also, hikers must chart their course to confirm the availability of suitable trails. When packing, hike participants should select ample food and water for their adventure. Finally, phones and other communication devices should be charged and ready for emergencies.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans” and consider the accompanying photo.There are several hundred Benin plaques now in European and American museums, and they offer us a remarkable picture of the structure of this West African kingdom. Their main subject is the glorification of the Oba and of his prowess as a hunter and soldier, but they also tell us how the people of Benin saw their first European trading partners.

Read the excerpt from "Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans.”Many wild theories were put forward. It was thought that the plaques must have come from ancient Egypt, or perhaps that the people of Benin were one of the lost tribes of Israel. Or the sculptures must have derived from European influence (after all, these were the contemporaries of Michelangelo, Donatello and Cellini). But research quickly established that the Benin plaques were entirely West African creations, made without European influence. The Europeans had to revisit, and to overhaul, their assumptions of easy cultural superiority.