Part 2: Summarizing an Author’s Viewpoint in an Informational Text
Question 18 • TX-English IV B
Read the excerpt from "Early Victorian Tea Set” by Neil MacGregor.As it got cheaper, tea also spread rapidly to the working classes. By 1800, as foreigners remarked, it was the new national drink. By 1900 the average tea consumption per person in Britain was a staggering 6 lbs (3 kilograms) a year. In 1809 the Swede Erik Gustav Geijer commented:Next to water, tea is the Englishman’s proper element. All classes consume it . . . in the morning one may see in many places small tables set up under t
Answer
I
It describes the way tea became popular in Great Britain.
I
It shows how many wars were started as tea became desired.
I
It illustrates the popularity of tea in Britain during the 1800s.
I
It argues that tea is not originally from Great Britain.
Explanation
The excerpt gives evidence of tea’s popularity in Britain during the 1800s: by 1800 it was called the new national drink, and by 1900 people consumed an average of 6 pounds per person each year. Erik Gustav Geijer’s comment that all classes drank tea reinforces how widespread it was. So the excerpt illustrates tea’s popularity during that century.
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