Praxis Core Reading Test Prep - Question List

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31.

The Northern Cities Vowel Shift and Speakers That Adopt It

“The Northern Cities Vowel Shift” is not adopted by all speakers that live in the geographic regions where it is in progress. Studies (1) illustrate that it is mostly European Americans who show evidence of taking on the shift; however, there is little to no research indicating that speakers of African American Vernacular English employ the shift in their speech. Canadians that share proximity to the Great Lakes with speakers that live in the United States also show no evidence of adopting the shift.

This shift, also called “The Northern Cities Shift” (NCS), is a (2) linguistic phenomenon that occurs in the northern geographic area of the United States known as the Inland North, which includes such cities as Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, and Chicago. Although prominent among some urban inhabitants of the region, NCS is not considered the standard. (3) Linguists describe one change that occurs in speakers of NCS in which the vowel in milk (4) “shifts” down and back (the tongue is lowered and travels back) from a short “i” to a short “e” that could be represented as melk.

William Labov, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the largest contributors to research on the subject of the NCS. His theory is that the shift possibly started when speakers from different (5) language varieties were brought together in the early 1800’s when the Erie Canal was being constructed. People from the East Coast moved to the Great Lakes region, and their dialects mixed resulting in an ongoing shift. However, not all speakers of the Great Lakes region participate in this linguistic variation.

In paragraph 1, why does the author include the information that African Americans do not participate in the NCS?

  1. To explain why African Americans do not say “melk” instead of “milk”.
  2. To support the claim that African Americans in the Great Lakes region do not participate in the NCS.
  3. To provide evidence that not all speakers in the Great Lakes region adopt the NCS.
  4. To show that there is little to no research that African Americans take on the NCS.
32.

Tomato Fights as Tradition in One Spanish Town

Have you ever heard of people throwing rotten tomatoes at actors who perform poorly on stage? Well, in Spain they take the tomato throwing one step further. Each year in the village of Buñol, located in the eastern region near the Mediterranean, there is a tomato throwing festival known as the Tomatina. It is a food fight in which over 400,000 pounds (200,000 kilograms) of tomatoes are smashed and juiced over the bodies of more than 40,000 people each year.

This festival began in 1945 and there are several different (1) theories about where it got its start. According to one theory, once a group of teenagers were attending a religious procession in the main (2) plaza or town square. It is said that one person aggressively pushed another, and everyone started fighting. There just happened to be a vegetable stand in the street and the teens began throwing the tomatoes at each other until the police came and broke the fights up. The same teens decided to repeat the fighting match the next year, for fun, with tomatoes that they took from home. Since then people meet up the same day, on the last Wednesday of August, at the same plaza, to participate in this unique tomato fight.

During the Tomatina the (3) participants, dressed in old clothing, throw tomatoes at each other from balconies, trucks, throughout the streets…there is no way to escape it. The streets and the participants all end up covered in tomato sauce. The tomatoes have to be (4) ripe. One of the rules of this battle is that before throwing the tomatoes you must crush them in your hands to prevent hurting someone. The fight only lasts an hour. Trucks full of tomatoes arrive at the plaza and everyone gets prepared. A (5) rocket signals the beginning and the end of the fun battle. When the second rocket is heard, the fight stops, but the party continues.
Apart from having a great time at this celebration, all that tomato juice is apparently good for your skin. It’s an excellent treatment that helps with cleansing and toning.

The word “theories”, in bold after the (1) in the second paragraph, is closest in meaning to

  1. Speculations
  2. Certainties
  3. Assurances
  4. Facts
33.

The Northern Cities Vowel Shift and Speakers That Adopt It

“The Northern Cities Vowel Shift” is not adopted by all speakers that live in the geographic regions where it is in progress. Studies (1) illustrate that it is mostly European Americans who show evidence of taking on the shift; however, there is little to no research indicating that speakers of African American Vernacular English employ the shift in their speech. Canadians that share proximity to the Great Lakes with speakers that live in the United States also show no evidence of adopting the shift.

This shift, also called “The Northern Cities Shift” (NCS), is a (2) linguistic phenomenon that occurs in the northern geographic area of the United States known as the Inland North, which includes such cities as Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, and Chicago. Although prominent among some urban inhabitants of the region, NCS is not considered the standard. (3) Linguists describe one change that occurs in speakers of NCS in which the vowel in milk (4) “shifts” down and back (the tongue is lowered and travels back) from a short “i” to a short “e” that could be represented as melk.

William Labov, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the largest contributors to research on the subject of the NCS. His theory is that the shift possibly started when speakers from different (5) language varieties were brought together in the early 1800’s when the Erie Canal was being constructed. People from the East Coast moved to the Great Lakes region, and their dialects mixed resulting in an ongoing shift. However, not all speakers of the Great Lakes region participate in this linguistic variation.

The word “shifts”, bolded after the (4) in the second paragraph, is closest in meaning to

  1. Links
  2. Moves
  3. Curls
  4. Jumps
34.

Spanish in the U.S.

Did you know that the United States has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world? With over 37 million speakers the age of five and older the U.S. alone has more inhabitants that speak Spanish than the whole country of Venezuela.

Spanish students don’t have to study abroad to get a good look into Latin-American culture. There are many cities here in the U.S. with (1) thriving Latino (2) districts that any student of Spanish can visit to practice speaking. Miami, for example, is home to a multitude of diverse Hispanics from all over Latin America and Europe. When walking down the streets of Little Havana (one of the predominantly Hispanic barrios, or neighborhoods) you will hear the Cuban Spanish (3) language variety. In Chicago, the place to hear Mexican Spanish is La Villita.

Since Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are the fastest growing linguistic group in the United States, it is common to find Spanish-language television channels (such as Univisión and Telemundo) in larger cities. In fact, it’s thanks to these mass media that there are people (although few) that spend their whole lives in the United States without ever having to learn or speak English. The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, even commented once that Hispanics in the U.S. need to “turn off the TV in Spanish” in order to learn English more quickly.

But Governor Schwarzenegger ought to know that, according to linguistic research on (4) bilingualism, families of Hispanic heritage (as well as other non-English speaking families) produce English dominant (or English only) speakers by the third generation after their immigration. That means, it is more common than not that the grandchildren of the Mexican immigrant cannot communicate with their grandparent in Spanish. Thus, the Spanish language does not seem to (5) pose a threat in the U.S. society, contrary to what many politicians often suggest in their political rhetoric.

Which of following is true according to the passage?

  1. There is only one variety of Spanish spoken in the U.S.
  2. There are over 37 million speakers of Spanish in the U.S. that speak the Venezuela language variety.
  3. Spanish can be heard in Chicago if you go to Little Havana.
  4. The U.S. can be considered the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world.
35.

Spanish in the U.S.Did you know that the United States has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world? With over 37 million speakers the age of five and older the U.S. alone has more inhabitants that speak Spanish than the whole country of Venezuela.

Spanish students don’t have to study abroad to get a good look into Latin-American culture. There are many cities here in the U.S. with (1) thriving Latino (2) districts that any student of Spanish can visit to practice speaking. Miami, for example, is home to a multitude of diverse Hispanics from all over Latin America and Europe. When walking down the streets of Little Havana (one of the predominantly Hispanic barrios, or neighborhoods) you will hear the Cuban Spanish (3) language variety. In Chicago, the place to hear Mexican Spanish is La Villita.

Since Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are the fastest growing linguistic group in the United States, it is common to find Spanish-language television channels (such as Univisión and Telemundo) in larger cities. In fact, it’s thanks to these mass media that there are people (although few) that spend their whole lives in the United States without ever having to learn or speak English. The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, even commented once that Hispanics in the U.S. need to “turn off the TV in Spanish” in order to learn English more quickly.

But Governor Schwarzenegger ought to know that, according to linguistic research on (4) bilingualism, families of Hispanic heritage (as well as other non-English speaking families) produce English dominant (or English only) speakers by the third generation after their immigration. That means, it is more common than not that the grandchildren of the Mexican immigrant cannot communicate with their grandparent in Spanish. Thus, the Spanish language does not seem to (5) pose a threat in the U.S. society, contrary to what many politicians often suggest in their political rhetoric.

According to the author, the reason that students of Spanish do NOT have to study abroad to practice speaking is…

  1. …Because the U.S. has more inhabitants that speak Spanish than Venezuela.
  2. …Because there are flourishing Hispanic neighborhoods in cities in the U.S.
  3. …Because Spanish language students can practice the Mexican variety in Chicago.
  4. Both A and C

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