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Question

Difficulty: MediumMeeting Specific Rhetorical Goals

Passage Excerpt:
In 1947, while working on the Harvard Mark II computer, computer scientist Grace Hopper and her team encountered a sudden system error. Upon examining the machine's hardware, they discovered a moth trapped in one of the electromagnetic relays. They carefully removed the insect and taped it into their logbook, [underlined portion], to document the unusual breakdown.

The writer wants to edit the underlined portion to emphasize the historic significance of this event as the origin of the computer programming term "debugging." Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

  1. coining the phrase 'first actual case of bug being found' and inspiring the modern programming term 'debugging'Answer
  2. B
    writing a detailed description of the moth's appearance and the relay number
  3. C
    noting that the machine was operating in a research laboratory at Harvard University
  4. D
    they wrote a brief note underneath, this was a common practice for engineering teams

Answer

coining the phrase 'first actual case of bug being found' and inspiring the modern programming term 'debugging'
The choice that mentions coining the phrase 'first actual case of bug being found' and inspiring the modern programming term 'debugging' is correct because it directly addresses the writer's goal to highlight the origin of the term 'debugging' in computer programming.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the prompt to identify the specific rhetorical goal.
The goal is to choose an option that emphasizes the historic significance of the event as the origin of the term 'debugging'.
ACT English questions of this type require satisfying a highly specific prompt constraint.
2
Evaluate the choices for grammatical correctness and relevance to the goal.
Identify that the choice referencing the coining of 'first actual case of bug being found' and 'debugging' is grammatically correct and directly addresses the goal. The other choices either focus on irrelevant details or contain grammatical errors like comma splices.
This process eliminates distractors that are either grammatically incorrect or rhetorically off-topic.
3
Select the correct option based on this evaluation.
The choice mentioning the coining of the phrase and inspiring 'debugging' is selected.
It is the only choice that successfully fulfills the rhetorical goal stated in the prompt.

Key Concept

Meeting Specific Rhetorical Goals
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Topics

Meeting Specific Rhetorical Goals

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