Question 80·Medium·Command of Evidence
Historian Olivia Chen’s recent book revisits the construction of the transcontinental railroad. In an essay about Chen’s work, a student claims that Chen is chiefly concerned with the workers’ personal emotions rather than with the railroad’s economic implications.
Which quotation from the essay best supports the student’s claim?
For Command of Evidence questions, underline the claim’s key idea and especially any contrast (here, “workers’ personal emotions” vs. “economic implications”). Then label each option by its main focus. Eliminate choices centered on economics or logistics, and pick the quotation that most directly and primarily emphasizes workers’ feelings.
Hints
Use the claim’s contrast as your filter
You need a quotation that clearly supports emotions and not economics. If a choice is mainly about wages, investors, or markets, eliminate it.
Prefer explicit emotional emphasis
The best support will do more than mention workers—it will highlight what they felt (for example, loneliness or homesickness) as the main point.
Watch for “in passing” or secondary mentions
If a choice treats feelings as minor details while focusing on schedules/output, it won’t support that Chen is chiefly concerned with emotions.
Step-by-step Explanation
Restate what the evidence must show
The student’s claim is that Chen is focused chiefly on workers’ personal emotions, not on economic implications.
So the best quotation should foreground feelings (loneliness, homesickness, etc.) rather than wages, investment, markets, or productivity.
Evaluate each option’s focus
- Choice A emphasizes wages, commodity prices, and markets → economic focus.
- Choice B emphasizes land grants, investors, and regional economies → economic focus.
- Choice C emphasizes practical details (shift times, miles, schedules) and says homesickness is only mentioned in passing → not chiefly emotions.
- Choice D emphasizes loneliness and valuing letters from home over freight schedules → chiefly emotions.
Select the quotation that best supports the claim
Choice D most directly supports the claim because it explicitly centers workers’ loneliness and inner experience rather than economic outcomes.
“Chen writes that ‘what interested me most was not the miles of track laid but the loneliness in workers’ entries, measured in letters from home rather than freight schedules.’”