Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumEvaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content

A writer is editing an essay about historical agricultural science and has drafted the following paragraph:

Russian botanist Nikolay Vavilov dedicated his life to ending famine by gathering seeds from crop wild relatives across five continents. By the 1930s, he had established the world’s largest seed collection in Leningrad. During the devastating 872-day Siege of Leningrad in World War II, Vavilov's assistants chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique samples of rice, wheat, and potatoes they protected. Svalbard, a remote Norwegian archipelago, now houses a global seed vault designed to withstand natural and man-made disasters. Ultimately, the scientists' sacrifice ensured the preservation of vital genetic plant diversity that helped restore agriculture after the war.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

  1. A
    Keep it, because it establishes the global significance of Vavilov's work by linking it to modern preservation efforts.
  2. B
    Keep it, because it provides essential geographical details that clarify where Vavilov conducted his primary research.
  3. Delete it, because it interrupts the paragraph's focus on Vavilov's Leningrad collection and the wartime sacrifice of his scientists.Answer
  4. D
    Delete it, because it contradicts the assertion that the scientists saved the seed collection during the Siege of Leningrad.

Answer

Delete it, because it interrupts the paragraph's focus on Vavilov's Leningrad collection and the wartime sacrifice of his scientists.
The correct option correctly determines that the sentence should be deleted because it is irrelevant to the specific narrative. The paragraph deals with Vavilov's historical work and the sacrifices made by his team in Leningrad during World War II. Introducing details about a modern facility in Svalbard, Norway, disrupts the chronological flow and introduces a tangential topic.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the paragraph to determine its main focus.
The paragraph focuses on Nikolay Vavilov establishing a massive seed collection in Leningrad, his assistants sacrificing their lives to protect it during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II, and the post-war agricultural impact of that sacrifice.
Understanding the paragraph's main theme is necessary to evaluate the relevance of any single sentence.
2
Evaluate the underlined sentence against the main focus.
The underlined sentence discusses Svalbard, a modern global seed vault in Norway designed to survive disasters. This is a modern development that is tangential to the historical narrative of the Leningrad Siege.
Identifying if a sentence adds value or introduces a distraction helps decide whether to keep or delete it.
3
Select the option that correctly identifies the decision to delete the sentence and provides the proper rhetorical justification.
The option to delete the sentence because it interrupts the historical focus on Vavilov's Leningrad collection and his scientists' sacrifice is the correct choice.
Only one option contains both the correct decision (delete) and the correct reasoning (focus interruption).

Key Concept

Evaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Evaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content

More questions from this topic