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Difficulty: MediumSentence Addition and Deletion Decisions

[1] In 1938, physicist Katharine Blodgett developed a revolutionary method for creating non-reflective glass, which is now widely used in camera lenses and eyeglasses. [2] Traditional glass reflects about four percent of the light that strikes it, causing glare and reducing visual clarity. [3] To solve this problem, Blodgett discovered that she could coat glass with microscopic layers of liquid soap, building a film that was exactly one-quarter of a wavelength of light thick. [4] This precise thickness allowed the light reflected from the outer surface of the soap film to interfere with and cancel out the light reflected from the glass surface underneath. [5] Blodgett was also the first woman to earn a PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge.

The writer is considering deleting Sentence 5 from the paragraph. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

  1. A
    Kept, because it provides biographical context that explains Blodgett's motivation for inventing non-reflective glass.
  2. B
    Kept, because it establishes the academic credentials that allowed Blodgett to secure her position at General Electric.
  3. Deleted, because it introduces a biographical detail that interrupts the paragraph's explanation of how Blodgett's non-reflective glass works.Answer
  4. D
    Deleted, because it repeats information about Blodgett's educational background that is already mentioned in Sentence 1.

Answer

The sentence should be deleted because it introduces a biographical detail that interrupts the paragraph's explanation of how Blodgett's non-reflective glass works.
The correct option is the one stating that the sentence should be deleted because it introduces an unrelated biographical detail that interrupts the paragraph's technical explanation of how the non-reflective glass works. Sentences 1 through 4 explain the development and physics behind Blodgett's soap-film coating. A sentence about her doctoral degree, while true, is an off-topic biographical insertion that disrupts the paragraph's focus.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the main focus of the paragraph.
The paragraph focuses on the scientific mechanism of Katharine Blodgett's invention of non-reflective glass (Sentences 1–4).
Understanding the core topic of the passage is necessary to determine whether Sentence 5 contributes to or detracts from that topic.
2
Evaluate the relevance of Sentence 5 to the main focus.
Sentence 5 discusses Blodgett's PhD from the University of Cambridge, which is a biographical detail about her education rather than an explanation of how non-reflective glass works.
Comparing the sentence to the paragraph's focus reveals that it is off-topic and interrupts the technical explanation.
3
Select the option that correctly identifies that the sentence should be deleted and provides the accurate reason.
The option stating that the sentence should be deleted because it introduces a biographical detail that interrupts the paragraph's explanation of how the glass works is selected.
This option aligns with the logical analysis of the paragraph's cohesion and unity, while the other choices present incorrect arguments or misinterpret the text.

Key Concept

Sentence Addition and Deletion Decisions
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Topics

Sentence Addition and Deletion Decisions

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