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Difficulty: Very hardEstablishing Introductions and Thesis Statements

Cellulose nitrate served as the primary base for motion picture film from the inception of cinema until the early 1950s, lauded for its luminous quality and high tensile strength. However, this compound is notoriously unstable: it is highly flammable, prone to spontaneous combustion under ambient conditions, and susceptible to auto-catalytic decay that reduces the film to an acidic, highly combustible powder. [1] __________________________________________________ Consequently, archives worldwide must house these fragile historical documents in specialized, sub-freezing vaults designed to suppress chemical degradation and mitigate fire hazards.

Which choice most effectively introduces the paragraph's discussion of the specialized storage and safety measures required to preserve cellulose nitrate film?

  1. A
    Managing the degradation of this material requires strict safety measures; which also include precise climate controls.
  2. B
    Because managing the degradation of this material requires strict safety measures and precise climate controls.
  3. Managing the degradation of this material requires strict safety measures and precise climate controls.Answer
  4. D
    Managing the degradation of this material requires strict safety measures, they must be paired with precise climate controls.

Answer

The choice that states that managing the degradation of the material requires strict safety measures and precise climate controls.
The correct choice is grammatically sound and directly introduces the concepts of safety measures and climate controls. This sets up the following sentence, which explains that archives keep the reels in specialized, climate-controlled vaults to prevent degradation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the surrounding context of the paragraph to identify the central focus.
The paragraph describes the physical instability of cellulose nitrate film and concludes by mentioning that archives house these films in specialized, sub-freezing vaults.
Understanding the surrounding context helps determine what information is needed to logically bridge the preceding and succeeding sentences.
2
Evaluate the rhetorical goal specified in the prompt.
The sentence must introduce the paragraph's discussion of specialized storage and safety measures.
This identifies the topic that the correct choice must establish.
3
Examine the grammatical structure of each choice to eliminate incorrect options.
The choices containing a fragment, a semicolon error, or a comma splice are grammatically incorrect.
ACT English questions require the selected choice to be both rhetorically appropriate and grammatically correct.

Key Concept

Establishing paragraph-level introductions and thesis statements while maintaining proper sentence structure.
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Topics

Establishing Introductions and Thesis Statements

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