Read the passage.

1. with my backpack full of notes about my essay and borrowed books, i trudged through the slush to the library. after months of note-taking, i was eager to compose my thesis. the library’s fourth floor housed a computer lab, and i could hear the hum of fifty computers as i exited the elevator. unfortunately, there were no available computers, and among the political posters on the wall, a makeshift list had been added for people awaiting a turn at a computer. i added my name to the list and considered returning to the typewriter in my dorm room.

what can readers infer about the time period of the passage?

a. textbooks were too expensive for students to afford.
b. college students were expected to publish their writing.
c. college libraries were gathering places for student activists.
d. personal computers were not the norm among students. read the excerpt from president ronald reagan’s address at moscow state university.

2. but progress is not foreordained. the key is freedom—freedom of thought, freedom of information, freedom of communication. the renowned scientist, scholar, and founding father of this university, mikhail lomonosov, knew that. "it is common knowledge," he said, "that the achievements of science are considerable and rapid, particularly once the yoke of slavery is cast off and replaced by the freedom of philosophy." you know, one of the first contacts between your country and mine took place between russian and american explorers. the americans were members of cook's last voyage on an expedition searching for an arctic passage; on the island of unalaska, they came upon the russians, who took them in, and together with the native inhabitants, held a prayer service on the ice.

in this excerpt, president reagan expresses his opinion that the key to progress is freedom. this is

a. a substantiated opinion because reagan quotes an expert.
b. a substantiated opinion because reagan lists many freedoms.
c. an unsubstantiated opinion because reagan shares personal feelings.
d. an unsubstantiated opinion because reagan gives a historical example.

read the excerpt from the wind in the willows by kenneth grahame.

3. the mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning
his little home. first with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders
and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he
had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over
his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms.

how does the author’s word choice express the tone of the excerpt?

a. the negative connotations of the words “dust,” “aching,” and “weary” give the excerpt a tone of relaxation.
b. the negative connotations of the words “dust,” “aching,” and “weary” give the excerpt a tone of tiredness.
c. the positive connotations of the words “home,” “morning,” and “splashes” give the excerpt a tone of relaxation.
d. the positive connotations of the words “home,” “morning,” and “splashes” give the excerpt a tone of tiredness. read the sentence and look at the sentence diagram.

the list with all the ingredients is on the kitchen table.

to make the sentence complete, what should be done with the diagram of the adjectival clause below?

a. it should be removed from the sentence completely.
b. it should be shortened by removing the article “the.”
c. it should be inserted directly after the noun it modifies.
d. it should be moved to the beginning of the sentence.