SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
The following text is from a 1904 novel by Harriet Vance. Nell is spending the summer with her grandmother.
Every morning Nell's grandmother mixed the bread dough without measuring anything, adding a handful of flour here and a splash of milk there until the dough felt right under her palms. Nell, who had been raised on cookbooks and careful scales, watched in disbelief. By August, though, she had stopped reaching for the measuring cup. She had learned to stop kneading when the dough sprang back against her fingers, just as her grandmother did.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Nell's grandmother refuses to show Nell how she makes bread, so Nell must teach herself.
Nell comes to make bread by feel, as her grandmother does, instead of by measuring.
Nell's bread turns out better than her grandmother's by the end of the summer, to her grandmother's surprise.
Nell's grandmother learns to use cookbooks and scales from Nell.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
At first Nell is amazed that her grandmother never measures. By August she has put away the measuring cup and judges the dough by how it feels, "just as her grandmother did." The main idea is that Nell takes up her grandmother's method, choice B.
Choice C goes beyond the text, which shows Nell copying her grandmother's method but never compares the quality of their bread.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. Nell watches her grandmother and ends up working the same way, so nothing suggests the grandmother refuses to teach her.
- C. The text never compares whose bread is better. It only shows Nell adopting her grandmother's method.
- D. This reverses who learns from whom. Nell is the one who changes her habits.
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