Question 2 • *CR Expository Reading and Writing S1 [E4250OX]
Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue."Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. Which best summarizes the central idea in the excerpt?
Answer
A
Tan is troubled by the way her mother uses the English language.
B
Tan is uncomfortable using negative terms to describe her mother’s English.
C
Tan has difficulty trying to explain what she means when she writes in English.
D
Tan has found that the English language is lacking in descriptive word choices.
Explanation
Tan says she has called her mother’s English “broken” or “fractured,” but she winces because those words make it sound damaged or incomplete. The central idea is that she feels uncomfortable using negative terms to describe her mother’s English. She is not saying that her mother’s English troubles her or that English lacks descriptive words.
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