Select Relevant/Sufficient Evidence: Fiction/Drama Practice Test

Read the excerpt from an original drama, then answer the question.

Stage: A small newsroom. Desks cluttered with notes. A deadline clock ticks loudly.

ADA: You can’t run it.

MILES: It’s verified.

ADA: By who?

MILES: By the source.

ADA: That’s not verification. That’s echo.

MILES: We don’t have time for your purity rituals.

ADA: You mean standards.

MILES: I mean you’re afraid.

ADA: I’m careful.

MILES: Careful is what people call fear when they want it to sound noble.

ADA: (holds up a folder) This man will lose his job if we print this.

MILES: And if we don’t, the mayor keeps lying.

ADA: There’s a third option.

MILES: There’s always a third option when you’re not the one who has to decide.

ADA: I’m deciding right now.

MILES: No. You’re postponing.

ADA: (quiet) Last time we rushed, we were wrong.

MILES: Last time you were wrong.

ADA: We were a paper.

They stare at the headline draft on the screen, unprinted.

Question: Which choice best supports the interpretation that Ada’s hesitation is shaped by past mistakes and a fear of repeating them?

Read the excerpt from an original drama, then answer the question.

Stage: A community garden. Late afternoon. A padlock hangs open on the tool shed.

SALMA: Who left the shed open?

BEN: I did. I was carrying compost.

SALMA: And then you forgot.

BEN: I didn’t forget. I assumed someone would close it.

SALMA: Someone. That’s your favorite worker.

BEN: Don’t make this into—

SALMA: Into what it already is? You assume, and the rest of us repair.

BEN: I show up.

SALMA: When it’s visible.

BEN: That’s not fair.

SALMA: (holds up a broken trowel) This snapped last week. I texted the group. No one answered.

BEN: I didn’t see it.

SALMA: You didn’t look.

BEN: I’m busy.

SALMA: We’re all busy. But you have a special kind of busy: the kind that makes you innocent.

BEN: (quiet) I’m not trying to be innocent.

SALMA: Then stop acting surprised when consequences grow.

BEN: (touches the open padlock) Fine. I’ll close it.

SALMA: You’ll close it now. And tomorrow you’ll leave it open again, because you think the garden forgives you.

Wind rattles the shed door; it bangs once like a reprimand.

Question: Which choice provides the best evidence that Salma believes Ben avoids responsibility by relying on others to fix the results of his actions?