While researching landscaping in public spaces, a student has taken the following notes:
- Many cities maintain turfgrass in street medians and around public buildings.
- Native plants are adapted to local environmental conditions.
- Once established, native plantings often require less supplemental irrigation than turfgrass, helping cities conserve water.
- Native plantings generally need less frequent mowing than turfgrass, reducing routine labor and fuel costs.
- Installing native plantings can cost more initially than planting turfgrass.
The student wants to write a sentence that emphasizes both an environmental advantage and a routine maintenance cost advantage of established native plantings over turfgrass. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical-synthesis questions, divide the student's goal into its required components before evaluating the choices. Eliminate choices that omit a component, focus on an irrelevant comparison, or make a stronger claim than the notes support; then select the choice that accurately fulfills the entire goal.
Hints
Focus on both required advantages
Look for a choice that includes one benefit involving environmental impact and another involving routine maintenance costs.
Find the relevant comparisons
Identify which notes compare established native plantings with turfgrass in terms of water use and recurring landscaping work.
Check the strength of each claim
Eliminate any choice that changes a qualified statement from the notes into an unsupported absolute claim.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify both parts of the goal
The sentence must emphasize both:
- An environmental advantage of established native plantings over turfgrass.
- An advantage involving routine maintenance costs.
It must also represent the notes accurately.
Locate the relevant information
The notes provide the two needed comparisons:
- Established native plantings often require less supplemental irrigation than turfgrass, helping cities conserve water.
- Native plantings generally require less frequent mowing, reducing routine labor and fuel costs.
Evaluate the choices
Choice A addresses initial installation cost and routine labor costs but omits an environmental advantage. Choice B mentions both categories but makes unsupported absolute claims that native plantings require no irrigation or mowing. Choice C accurately states the environmental advantage but omits routine maintenance costs. Choice D accurately combines water conservation with lower routine mowing costs, so it best accomplishes the student's goal.