16Hit1600
Expression of IdeasVery hardUsing notes to accomplish a rhetorical goal

Expression of Ideas practice question

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - A honeybee's brain contains about one million neurons. - A human brain contains about 86 billion neurons. - Honeybees can learn to recognise individual human faces. - Honeybees communicate the location of flowers to one another through a dance.

The student wants to emphasise how much smaller a honeybee's brain is than a human's. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

  1. A. A honeybee's brain contains about one million neurons, compared with roughly 86 billion in a human brain.Correct
  2. B. Honeybees can recognise human faces and communicate through a dance.
  3. C. A honeybee's brain has about one million neurons, which is why it can recognise faces.
  4. D. A human brain contains about 86 billion neurons.

Answer: A. A honeybee's brain contains about one million neurons, compared with roughly 86 billion in a human brain.

A difference in size needs both sizes side by side. Choice A puts the bee's one million next to the human's 86 billion.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. Honeybees can recognise human faces and communicate through a dance.
These are things bees can do, not the size of their brains.
C. A honeybee's brain has about one million neurons, which is why it can recognise faces.
Only the bee's figure appears, so there is no comparison — and the 'which is why' adds a cause the notes don't give.
D. A human brain contains about 86 billion neurons.
Only the human figure appears; the bee's brain isn't mentioned.

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