16Hit1600
Information and IdeasVery hardMain idea: a dictionary's spoken exception

Information and Ideas practice question

The dictionary's editors once held that a word had to appear in print to be included. Then a reader sent in a word she had heard only in her grandmother's kitchen, with a note saying she had never seen it written. The editors included it, with her note as its only source. It is still there, the one entry in the dictionary whose evidence is a single spoken memory.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. A single spoken word became a unique exception to the dictionary's rule about evidence.Correct
  2. B. The dictionary requires printed evidence for every word.
  3. C. The reader's grandmother invented the word.
  4. D. The editors later removed the word.

Answer: A. A single spoken word became a unique exception to the dictionary's rule about evidence.

One entry, one memory.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The dictionary requires printed evidence for every word.
The text describes the exception.
C. The reader's grandmother invented the word.
Not stated.
D. The editors later removed the word.
It is still there.

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