16Hit1600
Information and IdeasHardEvidence that an anonymous author was a sailor

Information and Ideas practice question

A critic argues that the anonymous author of an eighteenth-century sea novel must have served at sea, rather than writing from books as many contemporaries did.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the claim?

  1. A. The novel uses dozens of technical terms for rigging and sail-handling correctly, including several that period reference books consistently get wrong.Correct
  2. B. The novel is set on a ship.
  3. C. The novel was popular with sailors.
  4. D. Other sea novels of the period were written by landsmen.

Answer: A. The novel uses dozens of technical terms for rigging and sail-handling correctly, including several that period reference books consistently get wrong.

Knowledge that books of the time could not have supplied.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The novel is set on a ship.
Setting can be borrowed from books.
C. The novel was popular with sailors.
Readership is not authorship.
D. Other sea novels of the period were written by landsmen.
About other novels.

More Information and Ideas questions

Not affiliated with the College Board. SAT is a trademark of the College Board.