Entry Exam Category: College Admission Exams
Course: Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0
Exam: TSIA2 Reading and Writing Practice Test 2
Practice Question
Extract
Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to each question. Answer the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Passage
The first known use of the term "America" to refer to land in the Western Hemisphere comes from a world map produced in 1507 by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller. A book accompanying the map explained that the term came from "Amerigo the discoverer"-a reference to Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who had traveled to the east coast of what is now South America in the early 1500s. But Waldseemueller appears to have had second thoughts about the term "America." In an atlas he published in 1513, the land formerly called "America" was labeled Terra Incognita (unknown land).
Passage
The first known use of the term "America" to refer to land in the Western Hemisphere comes from a world map produced in 1507 by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller. A book accompanying the map explained that the term came from "Amerigo the discoverer"-a reference to Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who had traveled to the east coast of what is now South America in the early 1500s. But Waldseemueller appears to have had second thoughts about the term "America." In an atlas he published in 1513, the land formerly called "America" was labeled Terra Incognita (unknown land).
Why is the phrase "Amerigo the discoverer" (sentence 2) placed in quotation marks?
Answer Choices
- A: To show that it is important
- B: To indicate that it is a direct quotation from a book
- C: To question whether Vespucci really discovered America
- D: To highlight the differences between the map and the book
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The passage explicitly states the phrase comes from "a book accompanying the map".