GED Language Arts (RLA) : Evidence and Argument

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GED Language Arts (RLA)

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 : Identifying Supporting Details

Dear Congressman Phillips,

I urge you to reconsider your closure of the shipyard. I'm a medical practitioner in the area, so I meet many of the men and women employed by the facility. Many of these people are living paycheck to paycheck, unable to afford regular medical care; any gap in their employment could be devastating. If you must see it economically, consider the tremendous cost to the taxpayers when these people must rely on public programs for assistance. I ask you to please keep this shipyard open.

Very truly yours, . . .

Which option is NOT a supporting detail for raising guard salaries?

Possible Answers:

None of these

The employees would rely on public assistance

The shipyard employees cannot afford regular medical care

The author is a medical practitioner

The employees cannot afford to be unemployed

Correct answer:

The author is a medical practitioner

Explanation:

While the passage does state that the author is a medical practitioner, the fact does not support the main argument; instead, it lends credibility to his arguments.

Example Question #1 : Using Evidence

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the European education system underwent an overhaul which was, in part, solidified with the creation of the Bologna Process, an agreement among European countries to improve consistency and quality in higher education across the continent. The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle. Belarus has already applied and been rejected due to concerns about its academic commitment. So we can see that quality education in Europe is not simply a lucky coincidence, or the natural result of a long history of scholars, but an intentional reform initiative upon which major political decisions, such as the inclusion of countries into the European Union, are made. Eastern European countries also had an especially difficult time transitioning to the new standards required of Bologna Process signatories since they were coming from the Soviet tradition of severely underfunded public schools and widespread bribery as a main criterion for university admission. The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing Eastern and Western Germany. Before the implementation of the Bologna Process and formation of the European Higher Education Area, many European countries modeled their higher education system on Germany's, which separated students into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school. This model fit with the Communist rationale of all jobs being of equal value, and the obligation of adolescents to train for the job for which they were best suited in society rather than allowing them to choose a major at the university level.

What evidence does the author use to support the assertion that Soviet influence remains in the modern-day European higher education?

Possible Answers:

Differences can be seen between Western and Eastern German educations

Students are no longer separated into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school

Widespread bribery is a main criterion for university admission

Quality education in Europe is the result of its long history of scholars

The creation of the Bologna Process has improved the standard of education in EU nations

Correct answer:

Differences can be seen between Western and Eastern German educations

Explanation:

The passage states that, "The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing Eastern and Western Germany." This is a pretty direct assertion that pertains directly to the question at hand.

Example Question #1 : Identifying Evidence

Adapted from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, III.ii.82-117 (1599)

 

[This is a speech by Mark Antony]

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them,

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-

For Brutus is an honorable man;

So are they all, all honorable men-

Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me;

But Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honorable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honorable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal [a public festival]

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,

And sure he is an honorable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause;

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?

O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

What is the purpose of the underlined line, "When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept"?

Possible Answers:

To show how weak-willed Caesar actually was.

To make the point that even real men can cry.

To provide a human touch in the description of Caesar at his funeral.

To provide another example of how Caesar does not appear actually to have ambition.

To show that Caesar was not the tough figure that Brutus and others thought he was.

Correct answer:

To provide another example of how Caesar does not appear actually to have ambition.

Explanation:

The key to interpreting this line is found on the very next line: "Ambition should be made of sterner stuff." Mark Antony is implying that ambitious men are "stern" that is hard and unlikely to cry. However, Caesar did in fact weep with the poor. Therefore, he is using the example of crying to try to show that perhaps Brutus is not correct in making the claim that Caesar was ambitious.

Example Question #1 : Using Evidence

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the European education system underwent an overhaul which was, in part, solidified with the creation of the Bologna Process, an agreement among European countries to improve consistency and quality in higher education across the continent. The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle. Belarus has already applied and been rejected due to concerns about its academic commitment. So we can see that quality education in Europe is not simply a lucky coincidence, or the natural result of a long history of scholars, but an intentional reform initiative upon which major political decisions, such as the inclusion of countries into the European Union, are made. Eastern European countries also had an especially difficult time transitioning to the new standards required of Bologna Process signatories since they were coming from the Soviet tradition of severely underfunded public schools and widespread bribery as a main criterion for university admission. The Soviet influence on the current state of tertiary education can clearly be seen by comparing eastern and western Germany. Before the implementation of the Bologna Process and formation of the European Higher Education Area, many European countries modeled their higher education system on Germany's, which separated students into academic or vocational training schools from the beginning of high school. This model fit with the Communist rationale of all jobs being of equal value, and the obligation of adolescents to train for the job for which they were best suited in society rather than allowing them to choose a major at the university level.

The example highlighted in the text supports which conclusion?

Possible Answers:

Belarus did not want to join the EU because of undue influence the EU may impose on its educational system

Belarus may have been approved to join the EU if it had shown more commitment to the quality of its education

The EU's criteria for entry are arbitrary and unfair

None of these conclusions can be made based on available evidence

Belarus was deemed to be not economically strong enough to join the EU

Correct answer:

Belarus may have been approved to join the EU if it had shown more commitment to the quality of its education

Explanation:

The example of Belarus was provided to support the previous sentence: "The creation of the Bologna Process has not only improved the standard of education in EU nations, but set a very high bar for nations hoping to join the EU to hurdle."  Therefore, since Belarus was denied because of a lack of commitment to education, it stands to reason that the country may have been accepted had this not been an issue.

Example Question #1 : Using Evidence

Adapted from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, III.ii.82-117 (1599)

 

[This is a speech by Mark Antony]

 

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them,

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious;

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest-

For Brutus is an honorable man;

So are they all, all honorable men-

Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me;

But Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honorable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill.

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,

And Brutus is an honorable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal [a public festival]

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,

And sure he is an honorable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause;

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?

O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

Why is the underlined selection not necessarily a good argument?

Possible Answers:

Caesar could have refused the crown merely to please the crowd.

Mark Antony had incited the crowd not to allow Caesar to accept the crown.

The Lupercal was a false feast, based upon myths and unhelpful for any political ruler.

Caesar should not have accepted the crown, for it showed true ambition.

Caesar was arrogant to accept the crown.

Correct answer:

Caesar could have refused the crown merely to please the crowd.

Explanation:

The first thing to do is to interpret what Mark Antony is stating here. He is saying that he presented Caesar with a crown three times at the Lupercal feast. Three times ("thrice") Caesar apparently refused to take it. Mark Antony is implying that this shows that he was not ambitious. However, it could well have been the case that he did not take the crown precisely because he wanted to seem unambitious so that he could appeal to the people. Mark Antony's argument here is charged with rhetoric, but that does not diminish its weakness. We must be aware of such uses of language so as not to be tricked. Matters just cannot be seen as being that simple.

Example Question #21 : Content

Adapted from “Solitary Death, make me thine own” in Underneath the Bough: A Book of Verses by Michael Field (pseudonym of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper) (1893)

 

Solitary Death, make me thine own,

And let us wander the bare fields together;

          Yea, thou and I alone

Roving in unembittered unison forever.

 

I will not harry thy treasure-graves,

I do not ask thy still hands a lover;

            My heart within me craves

To travel till we twain Time’s wilderness discover.

 

To sojourn with thee my soul was bred,

And I, the courtly sights of life refusing,

            To the wide shadows fled,

And mused upon thee often as I fell a-musing.

 

Escaped from chaos, thy mother Night,

In her maiden breast a burthen that awed her,

           By cavern waters white

Drew thee her first-born, her unfathered off-spring toward her.

 

On dewey plats, near twilight dingle,

She oft, to still thee from men’s sobs and curses

           In thine ears a-tingle,

Pours her cool charms, her weird, reviving chaunt rehearses.

 

Though mortals menace thee or elude,

And from thy confines break in swift transgression.

            Thou for thyself art sued

Of me, I claim thy cloudy purlieus my possession.

 

To a long freshwater, where the sea

Stirs the silver flux of the reeds and willows,

            Come thou, and beckon me

To lie in the lull of the sand-sequestered billows:

 

Then take the life I have called my own

And to the liquid universe deliver;

            Loosening my spirit’s zone,

Wrap round me as thy limbs the wind, the light, the river.

The use of the underlined and bolded term “Solitary” at the opening of the poem serves which of the following purposes?

Possible Answers:

The use of “solitary” at the opening of the poem situates the narrator as a lonely person so in need of companionship that she is willing to court even death.

Characterizing Death as “solitary” at the opening of the poem suggests the fundamental, unbridgeable gap between abstract concepts and mortal beings.

Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem situates death as a negative and limiting force.

Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem adds emotional resonance to the speaker's address to Death advocating for them to be companions.

The use of “solitary” at the opening of the poem sets the tone for the rest of the poem, which is concerned with the grief and loneliness that often follows a death.

Correct answer:

Figuring personified “Death” as solitary at the opening of the poem adds emotional resonance to the speaker's address to Death advocating for them to be companions.

Explanation:

Opening the poem with personified “Death” as a solitary figure adds emotional resonance and purchase to the speaker’s subsequent plea to Death for them to be companions. This way, the closing image of Death embracing the speaker completes an emotional journey; Death started the poem alone and ends in an embrace. This change can be seem as mutually beneficial and supportive, rather than the speaker simply using Death or vice-versa. 

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