SAT OwlQuestion bank / Command of Evidence
| Generation | Urban families (%) | Rural families (%) |
|---|---|---|
| First | 92 | 95 |
| Second | 54 | 78 |
| Third | 11 | 41 |
A sociologist surveyed immigrant families in one region about whether they regularly speak their heritage language at home. The table shows the percentage of families in each generation that reported doing so. The sociologist concluded that the shift away from the heritage language across generations was steeper among urban families than among rural families.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the sociologist's conclusion?
Among urban families, home use of the heritage language fell from 92% in the first generation to 11% in the third, while among rural families it fell from 95% to 41%.
Among both urban and rural families, home use of the heritage language declined from each generation to the next.
First-generation rural families were slightly more likely than first-generation urban families to speak the heritage language at home.
Third-generation rural families were more likely to speak the heritage language at home than second-generation urban families were.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
The conclusion compares how fast the language was lost in urban and rural families. Choice A shows an 81-point drop for urban families (92% to 11%) and a 54-point drop for rural families (95% to 41%), so the urban decline was steeper.
Choice B is accurate, but it shows only that both groups declined, not that one group declined more steeply than the other.
Why the other choices are wrong
- B. This choice confirms that both groups experienced a decline, but it fails to compare the magnitude of the drops. It does not show that the urban decline was steeper than the rural one.
- C. This choice compares the starting percentages of the first generation only. It ignores the changes across subsequent generations, so it cannot support a conclusion about the rate of language loss over time.
- D. This is inaccurate: 41% of third-generation rural families is less than the 54% of second-generation urban families. Comparing different generations across groups also says nothing about which group's decline was steeper.
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