Noise in the city
Practice problem
City of Blue is a 2005 novel by Rafael Nguyen. The narrator conveys that the protagonist feels overwhelmed by the city’s clamor: ______
Which quotation from City of Blue most effectively illustrates the claim?
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Estimated time
- 30 minutes
What you’ll learn
- Recognize a quotation question and find the claim it tests.
- Put the claim in a few words, and cross out quotations that only share its topic.
- Put old or figurative lines in plain words before you judge them.
- Split a two-part claim and keep only the quotation that shows both parts.
- Answer the same way when a student makes the claim and the question asks what best supports it.
Prerequisites
You’re ready. No earlier lesson is needed.
Why this matters on the SAT
The claim tells you which line to find
A quotation question introduces a work or a person (a novel, a poem, an artist), states a claim, and asks: Which quotation … most effectively illustrates the claim? When a student makes the claim, it may ask which quotation from a historian or critic best supports it instead. About one Information and Ideas question in eight is a quotation question, and about two in three of them come from novels, stories, plays and poems.
You don't need to know the work. Usually all four choices share the claim's topic, so the question is which one shows exactly what the claim says.
SAT example
Winter Garden is a 1930 short story by Clara E. Martín. In the story, the narrator presents the character Mrs. Ellison as someone who values social harmony above personal truth: ____
Which quotation from Winter Garden most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A
“She often recalled the frankness of her youth with a faint smile, wondering where it had gone.”
- B
“At the garden party she listened attentively, but her thoughts drifted toward the looming storm clouds.”
- C
“Her guests praised the azaleas, and Mrs. Ellison eagerly listed the names of every variety.”
- D
“Mrs. Ellison would rather smooth over a lie than let even a whisper of disagreement disturb her afternoon tea.”
Solution to the example
Claim: Mrs. Ellison puts keeping the peace ahead of telling the truth.
Predict: a line where she lets the truth go to keep things smooth.
Cross out: B (a storm) and C (her azaleas) are only on the topic: neither weighs peace against truth.
Check: D says she would rather smooth over a lie than let even a whisper of disagreement disturb her afternoon tea: peace ahead of truth, so the answer is D.
A tempts most: it's about the frankness she has lost, but it never shows her choosing peace over the truth.
The right quotation shows the claim, not just its topic
Quotation questions take one routine:
- Put the claim in a few words: what it says, and about whom.
- Split a claim with two parts, and number them.
- Predict the kind of line that would show every part.
- Put each quotation in plain words, and cross out any that's only on the topic, half right or turned around.
- Check the last choice against every part.
Step 1 does most of the work. The claim is the sentence that ends in the blank, or the underlined one; when there's neither, it's the sentence just before the question. Look for words like presents her as someone who, the speaker claims or argues that. The title, author and date only set the scene.
Here's a short text of our own, set up the way the SAT sets up a quotation question:
The plum tree story
The Plum Tree is a short story about a girl who spends her summers at her grandmother's house. In the story, the narrator presents her grandmother as someone who is proud of her garden.
- Note: Claim
- Grandma is proud of her garden
- Note: Predict
- a line where she shows the garden off
Here are four quotations from the story, and only one shows the claim:
- Correct: Shows the claim
- “She walked every visitor past her roses, slowing down so no one could miss them.”
- Wrong: Only the topic
- “She watered the roses each morning before the sun was up.”
- Wrong: Only the topic
- “The garden ran down to a creek, with a plum tree at the far end.”
- Wrong: Turned around
- “She kept visitors on the porch and called the garden a chore.”
Every line is about Grandma and her garden, so the topic can't decide. Watering every morning shows care, not pride, and the creek and the plum tree only describe the garden. A line that's turned around shows the opposite of the claim: keeping visitors on the porch and calling the garden a chore is the reverse of showing it off. Usually all four choices share the claim's topic, so look for the one that shows what the claim says about it.
Check your understanding:
Which line illustrates the claim? In the story, the narrator presents Theo as impatient. (1) “Theo checked the clock above the counter.” (2) “Theo drummed his fingers and asked, for the third time, whether the bus was coming.”
In this question, every quotation is set in the same city. Put the claim in a few words, then look for the line that shows it, not just the city.
Practice problems
Put each quotation in plain words first
Many quotations come from poems and older novels, where the words are old or a line says one thing in terms of another (figurative language). Before you judge a quotation, say what it means in plain words: who does what, and what any picture stands for.
Here's the right answer from the plum tree story, written the way a poem or an older novel might put it:
- Note: Figurative
- Her roses were medals, and she wore them for the whole street to see → she showed her roses off as something she'd earned
- Note: Older words
- Ne'er did a guest depart ere she had shown him every bloom → no guest ever left before she'd shown him every flower
Both say what the plain line said, so both show the claim. Older poems and novels lean on a small set of words:
| Older words | In plain words |
|---|---|
| thou, thee / thy, thine | you / your |
| 'tis, 'twas | it is, it was |
| ere, ne'er, e'er, o'er | before, never, ever, over |
| hath, doth, wander'st | has, does, you wander |
In a quotation from a poem, a slash ( / ) marks where one line ends and the next begins, so read straight through it. A hard line isn't a wrong line: put it in plain words before you judge it.
Check your understanding:
Put the line in plain words. Does it show that the speaker finds the city lonely? Ten thousand windows, and not one of them lit for me.
This question quotes one of Shakespeare's sonnets. Put each line in plain words first, then match it against the whole claim, its “because” included.
Practice problems
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18
Practice problem
“Sonnet 18” is a poem by William Shakespeare. In the sonnet, the speaker asserts that the beloved’s beauty will endure because the poem will preserve it, writing, ______
Which quotation from “Sonnet 18” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A two-part claim needs a quotation that shows both parts
The sonnet's claim had two parts: the beauty lasts, and the poem is why. B and C showed only the first. About one claim in four has two parts like this, often joined by “and”, “but”, “because” or “by”. Number the parts, and keep only a quotation that shows both.
Here's the plum tree story with its claim changed. It now has two parts, in bold:
The plum tree story: two parts
The Plum Tree is a short story about a girl who spends her summers at her grandmother's house. In the story, the narrator presents her grandmother as proud of her garden but private about her own past.
Check each quotation against both parts:
| Quotation | 1. Proud of the garden | 2. Private about her past |
|---|---|---|
| “She'd walk anyone past her roses, but if they asked where she grew up, she went back to pruning.” | ✓ | ✓ |
| “She walked every visitor past her roses, slowing down so no one could miss them.” | ✓ | ✗ |
| “She kept her old letters in a locked tin and never said who wrote them.” | ✗ | ✓ |
| “She told the whole street how she'd met Grandpa at a dance in 1962.” | ✗ | ✗ turned around |
Only the first line has a check in both columns. The second was the answer to the one-part claim, but now it's half right: it shows the pride and stops there. The third is half right from the other side, and the fourth turns part 2 around. In a two-part claim, the most tempting wrong answer is usually half right: it shows one part and skips the other.
Check your understanding:
Split the claim into parts. Is this line enough? Claim: in the poem, the speaker misses her hometown but knows she can’t go back. Line: “I still dream of the river behind our school.”
In this question, the claim says one thing led to another. Split it into two parts, then look for the quotation that shows both.
Practice problems
Packing light in the Arctic
Practice problem
Northern Lights is a memoir in which author Mia Torres reflects on a solo trek across the Arctic. In the book, Torres maintains that by carrying only the bare essentials, she experienced an unexpected sense of expansiveness and liberty:
______
Which quotation from Northern Lights most effectively illustrates the claim?
When a student makes the claim, the quotation must say it too
About one quotation question in four puts the claim in a student's paper (a student claims that …). The choices then quote someone else, often a historian or a critic, and the question may ask which quotation best supports the claim, or would be the most effective evidence for it, instead of which illustrates it. The new wording doesn't change the routine: the right quotation says what the student claims, every part.
Here's the plum tree story with a student's claim:
The plum tree story: a student’s claim
The Plum Tree is a short story about a girl who spends her summers at her grandmother's house. In a paper about the story, a student claims that the grandmother cares most about her garden when she can share it.
Here are four quotations from a critic's essay on the story:
- Correct: Supports the claim
- “The garden matters most to her when the gate is open: her happiest scenes are the ones where neighbors wander in.”
- Wrong: Half right
- “She gives cuttings to anyone who stops at the gate.”
- Wrong: Only the topic
- “The story describes the garden in more detail than any room in the house.”
- Wrong: Turned around
- “She guards the garden like a secret and is happiest alone in it.”
Giving away cuttings is sharing, but it says nothing about when the garden matters most to her, and most is part of the claim. The line about the garden's detail is on the right subject and makes no point about sharing at all. Whoever is quoted, a line on the same subject isn't enough: it has to say what the claim says.
Now and then the claim is about how other writers treat someone. Then the right quotation is one of those writers doing it:
- Note: Claim
- some critics treat the painter mainly as a symbol of her city
- Note: Supports it
- “More than a painter, she is the harbor city itself, set down in a single name.”
Check your understanding:
Which critic’s line supports the claim? A student claims that the chef’s menus put simple dishes ahead of fancy ones. (1) “She buys everything at the morning market.” (2) “Her menus favor three good ingredients over thirty clever ones.”
In this question, a student makes the claim and the choices quote a critic. Split the claim into its two parts, then find the quotation that shows both.
Practice problems
A planner who listens
Practice problem
Community organizer–turned–urban planner Maya Dlamini has gained attention for her neighborhood redesigns. In an essay on Dlamini’s approach, a student claims that Dlamini treats residents’ lived experiences as the primary driver of her design choices, even when that conflicts with standard planning models.
Which quotation from a city-planning critic best supports the student’s claim?
Example: a two-part claim with a half-right trap
In this question, three choices show an inventor who dislikes fame, so part 1 of the claim can't decide. Split the claim, then check each choice against both parts.
Worked example
Spark and Solitude is a 2019 biography of the nineteenth-century inventor Elias Marden. In the book, the author suggests that Marden accepted fame reluctantly, valuing it chiefly as a means to finance his laboratory work:
______
Which quotation from Spark and Solitude most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A
“He winced at ovations, yet admitted that each headline loosened the purse strings of benefactors just enough to buy another season in the workshop.”
- B
“He dreaded the stage, yet he returned to it often, knowing that sponsors would underwrite his lecture tours even when the applause felt hollow.”
- C
“He reveled in awards, calling them ‘capital,’ because donors always gave more to his laboratory after a ceremony crowned him with praise.”
- D
“He shrank from public praise and dodged photographers, accepting contributions only if they arrived quietly, without his name printed in the papers.”
Step 1
Split the claim into its parts
The author suggests that Marden accepted fame reluctantly, valuing it chiefly as a means to finance his laboratory work. That's two parts, and the answer must show both:
- Note: 1. Reluctant
- he didn't want the fame
- Note: 2. Fame pays
- he valued it mainly for the money it brought his lab
Predict: he dislikes the attention but puts up with it because it pays for his lab.
Step 2
Put each quotation in plain words
- Note: A
- applause made him wince, but he admitted that each headline got donors to give enough for another season in his workshop, his lab
- Note: B
- he dreaded the stage but kept going back, since sponsors would pay for his lecture tours
- Note: C
- he loved awards and called them capital, because donors gave his laboratory more after each one
- Note: D
- he avoided praise and photographers, and took gifts only if his name stayed out of the papers
The phrase loosened the purse strings is a picture: it means the donors became willing to give money.
Step 3
Cross out the choices that miss a part
| The claim needs | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Reluctant about fame | ✓ winced | ✓ dreaded | ✗ reveled | ✓ shrank |
| 2. Fame pays for the lab | ✓ workshop | ✗ the tours | ✓ laboratory | ✗ name hidden |
B is the most tempting, because it has both a dislike of the stage and sponsors' money. But the sponsors underwrite his lecture tours: the money pays for the tours themselves, and the line never mentions his laboratory. It's half right. D has the reluctance, but he takes money only without his name printed in the papers, so his fame isn't what brings it in: half right as well. C has fame paying for the laboratory, but he reveled in awards, which turns part 1 around. B, C and D go.
Step 4
Check the last choice
A has both parts. He winced at ovations, which is part 1, and admitted what the fame was good for: each headline loosened the purse strings of benefactors just enough to buy another season in the workshop, his lab, which is part 2. The answer is A.
Example: a figurative poem
In this question, every choice is a picture: coins, a shoulder, a lamp, a crossed-out line. Put each one in plain words, then check it against both parts of the claim.
Worked example
“Borrowed Light” is a 1936 poem by Eliza Hart. The poem considers the speaker’s relationship to earlier poets, suggesting that influence is unavoidable but worthwhile only when reshaped into an individual voice.
Which quotation from “Borrowed Light” most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A
“I keep their names like coins in my pocket; / I spend them carefully, paying for the road / I never learned to build alone.”
- B
“Let no old cadence lean on my shoulder; / I will walk unshadowed, / and every borrowed word will be refused.”
- C
“I lift the lamp they left, but trim the wick; / the flame is theirs, the smoke is mine— / my breath makes it a different light.”
- D
“In the margins, I copy a line, then cross it out; / the paper remembers both strokes, / and I mistake that palimpsest for truth.”
Step 1
Split the claim into its parts
The poem suggests that influence is unavoidable but worthwhile only when reshaped into an individual voice. Two parts:
- Note: 1. Unavoidable
- earlier poets' influence can't be escaped
- Note: 2. Made her own
- it's worth something only once the speaker reshapes it into her own voice
Predict: the speaker takes what earlier poets left and reshapes it into her own voice.
Step 2
Put each quotation in plain words
- Note: A
- I lean on the earlier poets, using them like money to get where I couldn't go on my own
- Note: B
- I won't let any old rhythm lean on me; I'll refuse every borrowed word
- Note: C
- I take up what earlier poets left me but shape it myself; the fire is still theirs, but my own voice turns it into something new
- Note: D
- I copy a line, then cross it out; both marks stay on the page, and I mistake that mix for truth
A cadence is a rhythm, and a palimpsest is a page written over, with the old writing still showing through.
Step 3
Cross out the choices that miss a part
| The claim needs | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Influence can't be avoided | ✓ | ✗ refused | ✓ | ✓ |
| 2. Worth it once made her own | ✗ still theirs | ✗ nothing kept | ✓ | ✗ mistaken |
D is the most tempting, because copying a line and crossing it out looks like reshaping it. But the paper remembers both strokes, so the borrowed line is still there, and the speaker ends up confused: I mistake that palimpsest for truth. The influence lingers, but no voice of her own comes out of it. A spends the earlier poets' names on the road / I never learned to build alone: the speaker depends on them, and nothing becomes hers, so it's half right. B turns part 1 around: every borrowed word will be refused, as if influence could be avoided. A, B and D go.
Step 4
Check the last choice
C has both parts. What earlier poets left stays in the speaker's light (the flame is theirs), which is part 1. Trimming the wick means she shapes what she was given, and her breath is her own voice, which makes it a different light: what she inherited becomes hers, which is part 2. The answer is C.
Practice problems
These questions mix a poem, a story, an interview and an essay, so on each one, put the claim in a few words, split it if it has two parts, and put each quotation in plain words before you judge it.
Nerves on the platform
Practice problem
“Morning Platforms” is a 1922 poem by Ada Wilkins. In the poem, the speaker waits for a train on the first day of a new job. The speaker claims to feel nervous about the uncertain day ahead, saying ____
Which quotation from “Morning Platforms” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A station for the town
Practice problem
In the short story The Borrowed Map, the narrator suggests that the town’s new train station is seen as both a promise of opportunity and a threat to the town’s identity.
Which quotation from The Borrowed Map most effectively illustrates this claim?
A street photographer
Practice problem
Street photographer Lina Moreno prefers candid images to posed portraits. In an interview, she argues that the most meaningful photographs come from moments that can’t be planned in advance, as is evident when she says, _____
Which quotation from the interview most effectively illustrates the claim?
Maps and memory
Practice problem
“On Maps and Memory” is a 2019 essay by Lila Chen, a geographer who studies how public records shape community identity. In the essay, Chen argues that maps don’t merely document places; they can also influence what a community collectively remembers by rendering certain events or neighborhoods less visible.
Which quotation from “On Maps and Memory” most effectively illustrates the claim?
Finish the lesson
8 practice examples left
Finish the remaining questions correctly to complete this lesson.
Quick recap
- The claim, not just its topic: usually all four choices share the claim's topic, so put the claim in a few words and predict before you read the choices.
- Plain words: turn old or figurative lines into who does what before you judge them.
- Both parts: number a two-part claim's parts and keep only the quotation that shows both; the half-right line is the usual trap.
- A student's claim: whether the question says illustrates or supports, and whoever is quoted, the right line says what the claim says, every part.
- Every question: put the claim in a few words, split it into parts, predict, put each quotation in plain words and cross out, then check the last choice against every part.
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Pick the finding that would support or weaken a claim, if true.
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