A student claims that the guild members regard the narrator's fabric choice as essential to the appearance of the finished quilt. Which quotation from the text best supports the student's claim?

Question

The following is from a memoir about a small-town sewing circle. When I carried my first block into the Cedar Hollow Quilting Guild's Thursday meeting, I kept it folded so the crooked seams wouldn't show. Marguerite, who had been piecing quilts since before I was born, unfolded it on the long table without asking. "Your corners don't meet," she said. I started to apologize. "No," she said. "Look at the color." The other women leaned in. Across the table, Ruth said the blue I'd chosen was the only thing keeping the whole top from going drab. I had picked it because it was the last scrap in my bag. Still, when Marguerite pinned my block at the center of the row, I did not move it.

Accepted Answer

C. "Ruth said the blue I'd chosen was the only thing keeping the whole top from going drab.". The claim has two parts: the guild members (not the narrator) hold the view, and the view is that the fabric choice matters to the whole quilt. Choice C satisfies both, since Ruth, a guild member, calls the blue "the only thing keeping the whole top from going drab." Choice A quotes the narrator's own embarrassment about her sewing, which concerns her self-assessment rather than the members' judgment. Choice B shows Marguerite redirecting attention to the color but says nothing about the color being important to the finished quilt. Choice D explains how the narrator happened to pick the fabric, which addresses her motive, not the guild's evaluation.

Answer

A. "I kept it folded so the crooked seams wouldn't show." — This is the narrator describing her own embarrassment about her crooked seams — the claim is about what the guild members think of her fabric choice, not about her self-assessment.

Answer

B. "'No,' she said. 'Look at the color.'" — Marguerite does redirect attention to the color, but she never says the color matters to how the finished quilt looks; you need a line that states the fabric's importance to the whole top.

Answer

D. "I had picked it because it was the last scrap in my bag." — This explains why the narrator happened to grab that blue scrap — her motive — while the claim concerns the guild members' evaluation of the choice.

Information and Ideas practice question

Answer: C. "Ruth said the blue I'd chosen was the only thing keeping the whole top from going drab."

Why the other answers are wrong

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