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Question

Difficulty: MediumMeeting Specific Rhetorical Goals

Passage Excerpt:
In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine, a scarce drug used to treat malaria, in his makeshift home laboratory. During one of his failed trials, he ended up with a dark, sludge-like residue at the bottom of his flask. Rather than discarding the mess, Perkin cleaned the flask with alcohol and noticed that the substance dissolved into a brilliant, deep purple liquid. Recognizing the commercial potential of this accidental creation, he patented the substance as the world's first synthetic dye, mauveine.

Given that all the choices are true, which one most effectively highlights the contrast between the cheap, synthetic source of Perkin's new dye and the expensive, natural sources of traditional dyes?

  1. This accidental substance could easily be mass-produced from coal tar, unlike traditional dyes that required harvesting thousands of rare plants or insects.Answer
  2. B
    Perkin cleaned the flask using industrial alcohol and observed a brilliant, deep purple liquid that did not fade when washed.
  3. C
    This purple residue was synthesized from industrial waste, traditional dyes were extremely difficult to obtain.
  4. D
    Perkin went on to establish a factory to produce this synthetic dye, which soon became highly fashionable in Victorian England.

Answer

The correct option highlights that the accidental substance could be mass-produced from coal tar, unlike traditional dyes that required harvesting thousands of rare plants or insects.
The correct option directly highlights the contrast requested by the prompt. It pairs the cheap, synthetic source of Perkin's dye ('easily be mass-produced from coal tar') with the expensive, natural sources of traditional dyes ('harvesting thousands of rare plants or insects') in a single, grammatically correct sentence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the specific rhetorical goal in the prompt.
The goal is to highlight the contrast between the cheap, synthetic source of Perkin's dye (coal tar) and the expensive, natural sources of traditional dyes (harvesting plants or insects).
Determining the rhetorical goal allows you to evaluate each choice based on the specific criteria requested rather than general relevance.
2
Evaluate the choices for grammatical correctness.
The option containing two independent clauses joined only by a comma is a comma splice and must be eliminated. The other three options are grammatically correct.
An option must be grammatically correct to be the right answer on the ACT English section.
3
Select the grammatically correct option that fulfills the rhetorical goal.
The option comparing coal tar production to harvesting plants or insects directly establishes the requested contrast. The options about washing durability and Victorian fashion do not address this contrast.
Only one grammatically correct option fulfills the specific rhetorical goals of the prompt.

Key Concept

Meeting specific rhetorical goals requires selecting the choice that matches the precise criteria specified in the prompt while maintaining standard grammatical rules and consistency with the surrounding text.
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Meeting Specific Rhetorical Goals

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