Chinatown Chinese

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: dominate2% picked this

   demonstrate the extent to which American English terms dominate

   The author is never trying to make the case that American English terms dominate Chinatown Chinese. She seems to be making the more limited claim that "most new words that Chinatown Chinese has that someone from China wouldn't recognize aren't new ways to say Chinese words ... they're just Chinese adaptations of American English proper nouns". She still thinks that "regular ol' Chinese" dominates Chinatown Chinese, and these American-related terms are just some add-ons.

   2%
2. B

   Opposite, if anything3% picked this

   illustrate how Chinese Americans are able to communicate with each other easily despite

   The author's stance is that Chinatown Chinese is not a different dialect, so her purpose certainly wouldn't be to show how Chinatown Chinese speakers and people newly arrived from China are communicating despite having different dialects. She's rebutting the idea that Chinatown Chinese would be confusing to newly arrived people from China "because it's a different dialect", and saying, "No, it's still fundamentally Chinese. The reason those two groups would sometimes struggle to communicate is just because there are a lot of terms that refer to American places or holidays that aren't familiar to people from China."

   3%
3. C

   Unsupported: understand with ease7% picked this

   explain why native Chinese are able to understand Chinese Americans with

   The author isn't ever saying that newly arrived people from China can understand Chinese Americans with ease. She agrees that newly arrived Chinese people would have trouble understanding some words from Chinatown Chinese. She's just saying that the confusion isn't because "it's a different dialect" but because there are a lot of terms that refer to American places or holidays that aren't familiar to people from China.

   7%
4. D

   Opposite2% picked this

   show why Chinatown Chinese should be considered a distinct

   The author's stance is that Chinatown Chinese is not a different dialect. She's rebutting the idea that Chinatown Chinese would be confusing to newly arrived people from China "because it's a different dialect", and saying, "No, it's still fundamentally Chinese. The reason those two groups would sometimes struggle to communicate is just because there are a lot of terms that refer to American places or holidays that aren't familiar to people from China."

   2%
5. E

   Correct86% picked this

   exemplify the ways in which American English terms have become part of or have

   Why this is right

   This answer reinforces language from the broader idea right before the detail, which is what we expect on Local Purpose. The first sentence of the 2nd paragraph is saying, "Much of Chinatown Chinese's distinct words are proper names of geographical places and terms that some people, especially rural ones, had never encountered in China (because these terms aren't common outside America)." For example: downtown is an example of a geographical place that a rural Chinese person wouldn't know. Labor Day is an American holiday that rural Chinese people wouldn't know.

   Skill tested: Local Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   86%