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 Chen’s book best supports the student’s claim?
For SAT Command of Evidence questions like this, first restate the claim in your own words and underline 2–3 key ideas (here, “workers,” “personal emotions,” and “not economic implications”). Then quickly scan each answer choice and mentally label it according to its focus (for example, “emotions/experiences” vs. “money/economics/investment”). Eliminate any options whose main topic doesn’t match the claim’s focus, and choose the remaining option that most directly and specifically reflects the key idea, even if other choices are generally related to the same broader subject.
Hints
Focus on the key contrast in the claim
Underline the two things being contrasted in the student’s claim: workers’ personal emotions vs. the railroad’s economic implications. Your answer should clearly match the first and not the second.
Look for emotional language
Scan the answer choices for words that describe how workers felt (for example, feelings related to isolation, homesickness, or other inner experiences), rather than numbers, money, or investment.
Eliminate economic-focused choices
If a choice mainly talks about wages, prices, investors, capital, or regional economies, it is supporting the railroad’s economic implications, not workers’ personal emotions—those choices can be ruled out.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the key idea in the claim
The student claims that Chen is chiefly concerned with the workers’ personal emotions rather than with the railroad’s economic implications.
So we are looking for a quote that:
- Focuses on workers and their feelings or inner experiences.
- Does not mainly discuss money, prices, investment, or broader economic effects.
Translate the claim into what the evidence should look like
Evidence that supports this claim will likely mention things like:
- Emotions (for example, loneliness, fear, homesickness, pride).
- How workers felt or experienced the work.
Evidence that does not support the claim will instead focus on:
- Wages, prices, capital, investors, or economies.
- Large-scale financial or economic consequences of the railroad.
Check each choice for economics vs. emotions
Now, go through the options and label each as mainly about economics or emotions:
- Choice A: Talks about daily wage and commodity prices over decades → this is about money and prices.
- Choice B: Talks about federal land grants, investors, and regional economies → this is about investment and economic growth.
- Choice C: Talks about capital raised in eastern cities and the railroad’s ability to cross the Rockies → this is about funding and large-scale expansion, also economic.
So A, B, and C are focused on economic implications, not workers’ personal emotions.
Confirm the best supporting quotation
The remaining option describes Chen’s interest as not in the miles of track (a physical or economic measure) but in the loneliness of the workers and how they measured time by letters from home instead of freight schedules. This directly highlights the workers’ personal emotions and inner lives rather than economics, so the correct answer is:
“‘What interested me most,’ Chen writes, ‘was not the miles of track laid but the loneliness that seeped into workers’ entries, the way they measured time in letters from home rather than in schedules of freight cars.’”