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Question

Difficulty: MediumEvaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content

A writer is editing a draft of an essay about the history of synthetic dyes. The writer is considering adding the following sentence after the first sentence (which ends with 'home laboratory'):

'Quinine was traditionally extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, which grew primarily in South America.'

Should the writer make this addition?

In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine, a treatment for malaria, in his home laboratory. Instead of obtaining a clear medicine, he produced a dark, oily sludge. Rather than discarding the failed experiment, Perkin washed the beaker with alcohol and noticed a vibrant purple residue. This accidental discovery led to the creation of mauveine, the world's first synthetic aniline dye. Perkin quickly patented the dye and established a factory to mass-produce it, revolutionizing both the fashion and chemical industries.

  1. A
    Yes, because it explains why Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine rather than using natural sources.
  2. B
    Yes, because it introduces a key historical detail about nineteenth-century global trade routes.
  3. No, because it introduces information about quinine that is tangential to the paragraph's main focus on the discovery and production of mauveine.Answer
  4. D
    No, because it repeats information about malaria that is already mentioned in the first sentence.

Answer

The proposed sentence should not be added because it introduces information about quinine that is tangential to the paragraph's main focus on the discovery and production of mauveine.
The correct answer correctly identifies that the sentence should not be added because the paragraph's central focus is the discovery and production of mauveine, not the history of quinine. The proposed sentence introduces details about the natural source of quinine that are tangential and distract from this main focus.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the primary focus of the paragraph.
The paragraph describes how William Henry Perkin accidentally discovered the synthetic dye mauveine while trying to make quinine, and how this led to the creation of the synthetic dye industry.
Evaluating a sentence addition requires understanding the core topic of the paragraph to judge if the new information supports or distracts from it.
2
Analyze the relevance of the proposed sentence to the main focus.
The proposed sentence details the natural source of quinine (the bark of the cinchona tree in South America). Since quinine is only mentioned as the starting point of Perkin's experiment, details about its natural harvest are tangential and distract from the main narrative about the dye.
This step evaluates if the content of the proposed sentence directly aligns with and advances the paragraph's main idea.
3
Select the option that matches the decision and provides the correct justification.
The option proposing not to add the sentence because it is tangential is correct. The other negative option incorrectly claims the sentence is repetitive.
Both the decision (No) and the specific reason for that decision must be accurate.

Key Concept

Evaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content
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Topics

Evaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content

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