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Difficulty: HardEvaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content

A writer is drafting an essay about concert hall design.

Concert hall design relies heavily on the strategic placement of acoustic clouds—suspended overhead panels that reflect sound waves toward the audience. In large halls, sound traveling directly from the stage can dissipate before reaching the rear seats, resulting in a muffled listening experience. Acoustic clouds solve this by intercepting upward-traveling sound waves and directing them downward. These panels are typically constructed from dense materials like glass-reinforced gypsum or hardwood to ensure they reflect rather than absorb sound. By carefully adjusting the angle and height of these panels, acousticians can customize the sound distribution to suit different musical performances, from intimate chamber ensembles to full orchestras.

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

  1. A
    Deleted, because it repeats information about sound absorption that is established in the first sentence.
  2. Kept, because it provides concrete details about the material composition of acoustic clouds that explain how they function as reflectors.Answer
  3. C
    Kept, because it establishes a comparison between the acoustic properties of gypsum and those of hardwood.
  4. D
    Deleted, because it introduces details about construction materials that diverge from the paragraph's focus on the acoustic qualities of the stage.

Answer

The sentence should be kept because it provides concrete details about the material composition of acoustic clouds that explain how they function as reflectors.
The option suggesting the sentence be kept because it provides concrete details about the material composition of acoustic clouds is correct. The paragraph focuses on how acoustic clouds function to redirect sound waves to prevent them from dissipating. Explaining that the panels are made of dense materials like glass-reinforced gypsum or hardwood to ensure they reflect rather than absorb sound directly supports this focus by explaining how the clouds are structurally suited to perform their designated function.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the main focus of the paragraph.
The paragraph describes the purpose of acoustic clouds in concert halls, explaining how they prevent sound from dissipating by reflecting sound waves downward.
Understanding the paragraph's focus is essential to determine whether the bolded sentence contributes to or interrupts the development of the topic.
2
Evaluate the purpose of the bolded sentence.
The bolded sentence explains that the panels are made of dense materials to ensure they reflect sound rather than absorb it.
This step assesses how the specific sentence relates to the paragraph's overall discussion of sound reflection.
3
Determine whether the sentence should be kept or deleted.
Since the sentence explains how the panels achieve their reflective function, it is relevant and should be kept.
This guides the final decision between keeping or deleting the sentence.
4
Select the option that matches the correct decision and provides the correct logical reasoning.
The correct choice is the option that states the sentence should be kept because it provides concrete details about the material composition explaining how the panels function as reflectors.
This eliminates distractors that have the wrong decision or incorrect justifications.

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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