Question 1

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. In the fifteenth century, a Portuguese prince known as Henry the Navigator was determined to find a sea route to Ethiopia, from where he hoped to launch a crusade against the non-Christian world.Dismissing popular superstitions about giant sea serpents waiting to ensnare ships, Henry began, in 1424, to order his ships to sail down the western shore of Africa and round the bottom of Africa.Over the next ten years, fifteen different ships' crews would head south, take one look at the turbulent tides of Africa's cape, and turn back.The sailors believed that they were at the edge of the "Sea of Darkness," the most fearsome place on Earth, home to a watery cave filled with huge snakes that would swallow their ship.In 1434, Henry ordered explorer Gil Eannes to "strain every nerve to pass that cape." Despite mariners' fear that they might sail off the edge of the world, Eannes stayed farther out in the ocean as he rounded the cape.When he returned home that same year and described his calm and uneventful voyage, people began to realize that their fears were unfounded.Thanks to Prince Henry and explorer Gill Eannes, the Age of Discovery was unofficially launched.
(Source: Lewis Lord, "What Lurked Below," U.S.News & World Report , August 16, 2004,  www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/040816/misc/16ender.htm.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

D,F

Question 2

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. Many people have had first-hand experience with writer's block, but many don't realize that the opposite extreme of writer's block is a condition called hypergraphia (from the prefix hyper- , meaning "excessive, increased, or above normal," and the root word graph , meaning "to write").A person in the grip of hypergraphia is consumed by the overwhelming, unstoppable urge to write, so he or she writes constantly on anything available-paper, napkins, walls, even skin.Harvard Medical School neurologist Alice Flaherty, for example, describes in her book The Midnight Disease how, for four months, she filled Post-it notes with writing and then stuck them all over her home.Some of literature's most prolific authors and artists, too, were possessed by hypergraphia.Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote his six thousand-word Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde in just six days.Vincent van Gogh wrote three six-page letters to his brother Theo every day and, at times, painted a new canvas every thirty-six hours.American poet Sylvia Plath was a hypergraphic writer who fever-ishly poured her thoughts onto page after page of her journals.Other famous authors with hypergraphia include Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Joyce Carol Oates, and Franz Kafka.
(Source of information: Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, "Wired by Words," U.S.News & World Report , February 16, 2004, p.55.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage defines hypergraphia and provides examples to illustrate the condition, fitting the definition pattern.

Question 3

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. It's often been noted that Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca shares many similarities with Charlotte Brönte's classic novel Jane Eyre , published in 1847.The novels' heroines, in particular, share a resemblance.Both women are young (21 and 19).Both are plain and shy, plagued by a lack of self-esteem.Each falls for moody, mysterious older men.The unnamed narrator of Rebecca marries the sad Maxim de Winter not long after meeting him, and Jane, who works as a governess, falls in love with her employer, the wealthy but eccentric Edward Rochester.Each of the women finds out that her husband or husband-to-be is hiding a terri-ble secret.Maxim de Winter actually shot and killed his adulterous first wife, and Edward Rochester has been concealing his insane first wife in the attic of his house.Both men, though, manage to extricate themselves from their legal entanglements.Maxim de Winter is able to hide his crime by making it seem as though his terminally-ill wife committed suicide, and Edward Rochester's wife starts a fire that kills her.Indeed, in yet another parallel, the magnificent country estates of both men burn to the ground, leaving the men physically or psychologically wounded and in the determined care of their young second wives.Is there a difference between the two? Well, yes, Rebecca is a well written, suspenseful potboiler that few read anymore, whereas Jane Eyre still has the emotional power to win a modern audience.
(Source of information: Jonathan Yardley, "Du Maurier's Rebecca , A Worthy 'Eyre' Apparent," Washington Post , March 16, 2004, p.C01.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The reading compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between the two novels, focusing on the shared elements of the heroines, their love interests, and the secrets they uncover.

Question 4

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. Approximately five thousand Americans die every year in a house fire.Thus, it's important for everyone to be educated about the possible ways in which house fires get started.Unsafe electrical conditions such as overloaded circuits, damaged wiring, and the misuse of extension cords are one way fires in the home can begin.Using light bulbs that are not the proper wattage for a fixture is another possible cause of a house fire and putting a 150-watt bulb into a lamp that calls for a 60-watt bulb is more dangerous than it might seem.Candles may look pretty, but they can be dangerous.Candles left to burn unattended are, in fact, a leading cause of house fires.Other objects that should never be left unattended are pots and pans on the stove, where oil and fat from the pans can cause fires.Also, never check a pilot light with a lit candle or match in your hand.To do so, is to court disaster.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 5

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. Research on adolescents in junior and senior high school indicates five different levels of popularity.The first group includes the popular adolescents, young people who tend to be physically attractive, well groomed, fashionable, social, self-confident, and able to com-mand others' attention.The individuals in this group receive many favorable ratings from other adolescents.The second group contains the controversial adolescents.They are the young people who receive very favorable or very unfavorable ratings from other adolescents.Average adolescents, the third group, are generally accepted by other adolescents, but they receive few extreme ratings.The final two groups include the rejected adolescents and the neglected adolescents, both of whom receive negative ratings from their peers.Rejected adolescents engage in antisocial and aggressive behaviors that cause them to be unpopular and rejected by many other teens.Most display poor attitudes and have discipline problems.Neglected adolescents, the other group of unpopular teens, often have poor social skills and engage in fewer positive interactions with their peers.Many have interests that are very different from their peers'.
(Source: Paul S.Kaplan, Adolescence , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, p.192.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 6

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. The term "product downsizing" describes manufacturers' decision to combat rising costs by charging the same price for a product while reducing the product's quantity by amounts consumers might not notice.For example, Coca-Cola Enterprises began selling Coke in a new 1.5-liter, hourglass-shaped bottle.Although the amount of product in the new bottle is 25 percent less than the amount in a 2-liter bottle, the price is only slightly less than that of the 2-liter size.Brawny has cut the size of its paper-towel rolls by almost 40 percent without changing its price.Dannon has shrunk its single servings of yogurt from eight ounces to six ounces.Breyers reduced its standard half-gallon ice cream container to 1.75 quarts, advertis-ing the new container as a "space saver," while not reducing the price.Consequently, smart shoppers are paying more attention to unit pricing, which reveals not only the total price of an item but also its price per unit, such as cost per ounce or cost per roll.Unit pricing makes it easier to recognize a change in quantity.It also helps shoppers compare two different brands to see which one is the more economical.
(Source: Kelly K.Spors, "Paying the Same ...But Getting Less," The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2004.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 7

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. Boys and girls tend to respond differently when their parents divorce.Boys often express their hurt and frustration in outward ways, tending to become more aggressive and disobedient while the separation and divorce are occurring.Because divorce usually causes boys to lose regular contact with their fathers, the parent with whom they identify most strongly, problems with their mothers very often intensify.Mothers typically react by using either authoritarian or permissive parenting styles with their sons, suggesting that they are either trying to reassert control or have given up trying altogether.Both styles can further erode the mother/son relationship.Girls, on the other hand, usually become less aggressive when their parents divorce.They also tend to become more worried about their schoolwork and more attentive to their chores, suggesting that they are expressing their hurt and frustration inwardly and trying to help by acting more responsibly.As a result, their relationships with their mothers tend to improve.According to one study, around six years after a divorce, mothers and daughters had usually established close, positive relation-ships.However, divorce also seems to produce one negative consequence for daughters: a preoccupation with their relationships with males.Girls with divorced parents are more likely to date and engage in sexual relations at an early age, and they are more likely to get pregnant and have difficult relationships with males during their teenage years.
(Adapted from Kelvin L.Seifert et al., Lifespan Development , 2nd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, p.311.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage uses comparison and contrast to describe how boys and girls respond differently to divorce. It also uses cause and effect to explain the consequences of divorce on boys and girls.

Question 8

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. Most businesses can be classified according to one of three main legal structures: sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation.Almost three-fourths of American businesses are sole proprietorships, very small companies with only one owner and few employees.Many retail, service, and agricultural businesses, for example, are sole proprietorships.About 7 percent of businesses are partnerships.These tend to be relatively small companies with two or more owners.Many accounting, law, and advertising firms are organized as partnerships.Corporations comprise about 19 percent of all businesses.A corporation is usually a mid- to large-sized company that sells shares of ownership to stockholders, or investors.General Motors, Walmart stores, and Procter & Gamble are among some of America's largest corporations.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage discusses the three main legal structures for businesses: sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation, and then classifies businesses according to these structures.

Question 9

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. The Girl Scouts organization has been an American tradition for more than ninety years.On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low gathered 18 girls from Savannah, Georgia, for the first Girl Scout meeting.Just a few years later, on June 10, 1915, Girl Scouts, Inc.was born when the organization was incorporated.By 1920, there were nearly 70,000 Girl Scouts nationwide.Today, the organization has grown to include almost 3.8 million members.But while the Girl Scouts of decades past wore the traditional green uniform with merit badges sewn to a sash, today's Girl Scouts are more likely to be wearing a T-shirt and bracelet with collectible charms that indicate different achievements.The activities of today's Girl Scouts are also different from those of yesteryear.In the past, members were likely to hone their cooking skills or make crafts out of pine cones.Today, however, the girls are more likely to focus on contemporary topics like financial planning, computer software, dating, and international travel.Their meeting schedule is also more flexible to accommodate the busier lifestyles of today's young women.
(Source of information: Girls Scouts of the USA, "Girl Scouts Time-line," www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/ timeline/)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage follows a time order by listing dates and events in the history of the Girl Scouts (D) and compares and contrasts the past and present activities and attire of the Girl Scouts (E).

Question 10

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. Dogs are mammals, so are squirrels and people.Because mammals come in a bewildering variety of sizes and shapes, the question is what characteristics define the class known as mammals? The answer to that question has several parts because mammals have a number of defining characteristics.Mammals are vertebrates.That means they have a backbone.Mammals are also warm-blooded, have lungs, and breathe in air.Mammals are the only animals with real hair and the ability to produce milk.A mammal's heart and lungs are divided from the stomach by a wall of muscle called the diaphragm.Mammals also have different types of teeth that are appropriate for different uses.Then, too, and not to be forgotten, mammal brains are more highly developed than the brains of other animals.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 11

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. Nortec is a style of electronic music popular among young people who frequent Tijuana nightspots.The world is derived from norte, northern Mexico, and techno, or electronic music.Nortec blends complex electronic rhythms with traditional Mexican variations of the polka and waltz.The sounds of accordions, drums, and tubas dominate the music, which is said to capture the unique cultural flavor of Tijuana.Nortec contains few lyrics.Instead the emphasis is on a high-volume, pulsating beat that inspires energetic dancing.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage provides a definition of Nortec music by explaining its origins, characteristics, and the elements that make up the style.

Question 12

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. In 1977, Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess conducted a now classic study of babies and found that the majority of babies can be classified according to four different temperament types.The first type includes the easy babies .These infants, which account for about 40 percent of babies, display mostly positive moods and adapt well to new situations.They also have regular eating, sleeping, and elimination habits.Difficult babies are the second type.About 10 percent of infants get cranky easily and are stressed by new situations.These babies tend to have irregular body functions.The third type of baby is the slow-to-warm-up baby .These children, which account for about 15 percent of babies, are similar to difficult babies in that they are moody and do not adapt well to new stimuli.However, their reactions are less extreme than those of difficult babies.One last category includes the 35 percent of babies who do not fall neatly into any of the first three groups.Thomas and Chess classified this group as the mixed-pattern babies .
(Adapted from Kelvin L.Seifert et al., Lifespan Devel-opment , 2nd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, p.160.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 13

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. On June 5, 1981, the federal Centers for Disease Control issued its first warning about a rare disease that had struck five young homosexual men.In 1984, scientists identified the virus that causes AIDS, naming it the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).By the mid-1980s, the number of people newly infected peaked at 150,000 a year.At the same time, the government began campaigning to teach the public about the methods of transmitting the disease and preventing its spread.However, in 1994, the number of AIDS deaths peaked at 80,000.That year, AIDS was the leading cause of death for all Americans twenty-five to forty-four years old.By 2001, the worldwide AIDS death toll was over 20 million.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 14

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. If you want to reduce the anxiety caused by negative thinking, you should try cognitive therapy, which involves three general steps.Start by paying close attention to how you respond to bad news.For example, if you make a mistake at work, is your first thought, "I'll be fired"? Step two follows closely upon the heels of step one.Once you recognize the pattern of your reactions, see if you can identify errors in your thought process.For example, do you tend to ignore any more positive alternatives and focus instead on the most disastrous ones? After you have studied and analyzed your automatic responses, you can move on to the third step: changing the underlying beliefs that produce anxiety.For instance, if you realize that you have no self-confidence, start identifying those areas where you have had success.As soon as you start to think about failure, call up a successful event and tell yourself that you have succeeded before and will succeed again.In this way, you will change your opinion of yourself and thereby eliminate your automatic and negative reactions.At this point, you will be able to deal more productively with problems and setbacks.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 15

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the organizational pattern or patterns of each reading. England made three initial attempts at colonizing America with the 1587 Roanoke colony, 1607 Jamestown colony, and 1620 Plymouth colony.The French and Spanish colonies, how-ever, predated the English by several decades.In the 1500s, France began to actively colonize North America, and in 1513 and 1521, Juan Ponce de Leon led expeditions to Florida, claiming the territory for Spain.In the 1560s, French Protestants tried to establish two colonies on the Atlantic coast.The first one, in present-day South Carolina, was unsuccessful; its starving inhabitants had to be rescued by a passing ship.The second, which was established near present-day Jacksonville, Florida, was destroyed in 1564 by a Spanish army.The next year, in 1565, Spain sent Pedro Menendez de Aviles to build the city of St.Augustine, which today remains the oldest continuously inhabited European city in the United States.Afterward, the French concentrated their efforts further north.By the early 1600s, a large area that included not only Canada but also what is now America's Great Lakes region and Mississippi River Valley was under French rule and named New France.
(Sources of information: Carol Berkin et al., Making America , 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, pp.34 - 40; Mary Beth Norton et al., A People and a Nation , 6th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001, pp.28-29, 34.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The reading presents a sequence of dates and events in the colonization of North America, specifically focusing on the efforts of England, France, and Spain. The information is presented in chronological order, with a clear timeline of events. This organizational pattern is indicative of time order: sequence of dates and events.

Question 16

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns of each reading. The human body needs carbohydrates.Carbohydrates are the chemical compounds which provide energy in the form of glucose, or sugar.They are present in foods like bread, pasta, and potatoes.As athletes know, eating the right carbohydrates at the right time can improve physical performance during exercise.Eating a light snack such as a banana, an apple, yogurt, or peanut butter toast keeps blood sugar stable and provides a steady fuel for muscles.If you want to fuel your workout with carbohydrates, eat an hour or two before you get started.The delay gives your muscles time to convert and store the carbohydrates as glycogen, the storage form of glucose that provides energy to the body.During an exercise workout that lasts longer than an hour, make it a point to replenish your fuel supply periodi-cally.Sports drinks, for example, will supply additional carbohydrates and replace the fluids lost through sweating.After the workout is done, eat a bagel or some rice cakes to help your body recover from the workout and prepare for the next one.
(Source of information: Nancy Ferrari, "Fueling for Performance," Newsweek , January 19, 2004, p.48.)
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The answer of Choose the appropriate letter or letters to...

Question 17

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. Football and rugby both involve two teams who try to score points by carrying a ball into an area at the end of the field.However, the two games differ in many ways.In football, each team has eleven players on the field.In rugby, there are fifteen players on the field.Foot-ball players wear protective helmets and pads.Rugby players wear no padding, although they can choose to wear a soft leather cap.In football, players can throw the ball to each other.In rugby, passes are illegal, and players must move the ball down the field by running with it or kicking it.When a football player is tackled, the game stops.Rugby, however, is a continuous game.A tackled player must immediately release the ball, and play continues.Rugby allows no time-outs either.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The reading is comparing and contrasting football and rugby, highlighting the differences between the two games.

Question 18

Choose the appropriate letter or letters to identify the pattern or patterns in each reading. Some medical myths just will not die no matter how often they are debunked.Take, for instance, the claim that hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.There is absolutely no truth to it, but the belief survives nonetheless.As the body shrivels after death, the hair and fingernails start to look longer by comparison.Another medical myth is that getting wet in cold weather causes colds.But weather doesn't cause colds.Viruses do.You can go out in the freezing cold with your hair wet or get caught in an icy rain storm and still stay healthy as long as you don't make contact with a cold virus while outside.Yet another medical myth is that eating sweets causes diabetes.It doesn't, at least not directly.Eating sugar often leads to weight gain, and it's being overweight that is a high risk factor for Diabetes 2 (adult onset in contrast to diabetes that occurs in childhood).It's also not true that eating chocolate causes acne.Most acne is hormone-related.What you eat doesn't affect it.Another myth that won't die is that touching a frog will produce warts on your hand.Warts, however, are caused by the papilloma virus, which is passed from person to person and enters the body through small cuts or cracks in the skin of the hand.
A) definition
B) classification
C) time order: process
D) time order: sequence of dates and events
E) comparison and contrast
F) cause and effect
G) simple listing

Accepted Answer

The passage lists various medical myths and explains why each one is false, which aligns with a simple listing pattern.

Quiz 4: Identifying and Learning From Organizational Patterns