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Rhetorical Synthesis SAT question

Reading and Writing · Expression of Ideas · Medium · Answer it here, explanation included.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

  • Las sergas de Esplandián was a novel popular in sixteenth-century Spain.
  • The novel featured a fictional island inhabited solely by Black women and known as California.
  • That same century, Spanish explorers learned of an “island” off the west coast of Mexico.
  • They called it California after the island in the novel.
  • The “island” was actually the peninsula now known as Baja California (“Lower California”), which lies to the south of the US state of California.

The student wants to emphasize the role a misconception played in the naming of a place. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

ExplanationShow

Choice D is the best answer. The sentence emphasizes the role a misconception played in the naming of a place, explaining that Spanish explorers mistook a peninsula for an island and, as a result, named the peninsula after a fictional island, California.

Choice A is incorrect. The sentence mentions a novel that featured a fictional island, California; it doesn’t emphasize the role a misconception played in the naming of a place. Choice B is incorrect. The sentence notes that Baja California was originally named after a fictional place; it doesn’t emphasize the role a misconception—specifically, the Spanish explorers’ mistaken belief that the peninsula was an island—played in the naming of a place. Choice C is incorrect. The sentence indicates when Spanish explorers learned of the peninsula they called California; it doesn’t emphasize the role a misconception played in the naming of a place.

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