Del's good grades were due to regular attendance, good participation in class, and he studied effectively.

a) correct
b) incorrect

Read the passage: canines may not be the deepest thinkers in the world. but perhaps that's for the best. the life of a dog—sitting alone all day, waiting for everyone to come home—can be pretty boring. super-smart animals would probably get totally stressed out, says university of pennsylvania researcher james serpell. look at it this way: if dogs were any smarter, they probably wouldn't choose to hang around with us. which best describes the tone of the passage?

Cancer, ‘the big c,’ as it is often called. her doctor felt sure but ordered more tests to confirm his suspicion. while cervical cancer in a woman julianne’s age was rare, her doctor admitted, it certainly was not unheard of in her demographic group. her doctor explained that this type of cancer is often caused by a common virus that many women do not even realize they have. the human papilloma virus can lead to this type of cancer if a woman’s immune system does not fight off the virus in its initial stages. julianne was devastated. her doctor began to discuss treatment options and suggested an oncologist specializing in this type of cancer, but julianne heard very little of what he said. her head was spinning with questions. overwhelmed, she wondered how she would break the news to her family and friends. according to the article, a physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer is called

Constructed response paragraph: after reading “the case for short words,” do you think the author makes a convincing case that short words are effective? explain your answer and support it with evidence from the selection.