Each spring, maple syrup producers in New England harvest sap from sugar maple trees. To do this, they drill small holes into the tree trunks and insert metal or plastic taps called spiles. Sap, which is mostly water with a low sugar content, drips slowly from these spiles into hanging buckets or plastic tubing. *Sugar maple trees can grow up to eighty feet tall and live for over three hundred years.* This harvested sap is then collected and boiled in large pans inside a sugarhouse. Boiling evaporates the excess water, concentrating the sugars until it becomes the thick, sweet syrup enjoyed on pancakes and waffles.
The writer is considering deleting the italicized sentence from the passage. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
- AKept, because it provides details about the physical characteristics of sugar maple trees, which are the main subject of the paragraph.
- BKept, because it explains why older sugar maple trees produce sap at a faster rate than younger trees.
- Deleted, because it interrupts the paragraph's discussion of the process of harvesting and refining maple sap with unrelated facts about the tree's size and lifespan.Answer
- DDeleted, because it contradicts the paragraph's claim that sap is harvested only during the spring.
Answer
The sentence should be deleted because it interrupts the paragraph's discussion of the process of harvesting and refining maple sap with unrelated facts about the tree's size and lifespan.
The correct answer is the option suggesting the sentence be deleted because it interrupts the paragraph's explanation of the process of harvesting and processing maple sap. The paragraph is structured to describe the steps of making syrup, and details about the physical size and age of the trees do not support this description.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Evaluating sentence relevance to maintain paragraph unity and cohesion.
Estimated Time:50s