SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details
In a short story, an elderly woman keeps a cracked blue bowl on the highest shelf in her kitchen even though she owns newer bowls in…
In a short story, an elderly woman keeps a cracked blue bowl on the highest shelf in her kitchen even though she owns newer bowls in perfect condition. When her granddaughter asks why, the woman explains only that the bowl “came across the ocean with us.” She then uses one of the newer bowls for dinner and carefully returns the cracked one to the shelf.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: The cracked bowl has significance because of the family history it represents, even though it is no longer used as an ordinary household object.
The woman's careful preservation of a bowl she no longer uses, paired with her comment about its journey with the family, points to sentimental instead of practical value, which D names precisely while also correctly noting the bowl's retirement from ordinary use. A contradicts the passage, which shows the woman using a different bowl for dinner. B and C each invent a detail, about durability or intended disposal, that the passage never supports.
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