Questions 6–11 are based on the sentences below:
(Sentence 1) Winter counts are physical records, mainly drawings on animal hides or muslin, that Plains Indians, primarily the Lakota, used for showing each year of their history.
(Sentence 2) In this method, a year consists of one event recorded as an image in the winter count.
(Sentence 3) People could keep track of other events, such as births and deaths, by knowing the years in which it occurred.
(Sentence 4) In consultation with members of the Lakota people, curators at the Smithsonian Institution created an online exhibit of about a thousand winter counts.
(Sentence 5) Scholars generally agree that collectively, probably, they chose which event would stand for a year.
(Sentence 6) An event chosen to represent a year was not necessarily the most important of that year, just one that was memorable for everyone in the group.
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In context, which is the best replacement for “showing” in sentence 1? (A) producing (B) appearing (C) representing (D) explaining (E) signaling
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In context, which of the following revisions must be made to sentence 3 (reproduced below)? People could keep track of other events, such as births and deaths, by knowing the years in which it occurred. (A) Add “Ordinarily” to the beginning of the sentence. (B) Change “could” to “would”. (C) Change “such as” to “like”. (D) Change “it” to “they”. (E) Add “had” before “occurred”.
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Which is the best revision of the underlined part of sentence 5 (on the right)? Scholars generally agree that collectively, probably, they chose which event would stand for a year. (A) what event would stand for a year was probably decided as a collective (B) collectively the Lakota Indians probably chose the event for its year (C) choosing the event that would stand for a year was probably a collective effort (D) it was probably a collective task, they all chose the event to stand for a year (E) the event that would stand for a year was probably their collective decision
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Which of the following sentences is best to add after sentence 6? (A) Historians should look at several winter counts, looking out for repeated images, in order to get better information. (B) The drawings were sometimes arranged in a spiral, reading out from the center; sometimes in page form, reading from top to bottom, left to right. (C) However, winter counts helped the people keep their oral history in chronological order. (D) For example, one year might be named for a war, while another might be named for a meteor shower. (E) Winter counts show that conflict was the norm for many Native Americans.
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Deleting which of the following sentences would most improve the coherence of the passage? (A) Sentence 4 (C) Sentence 5 (B) Sentence 6 (D) Sentence 3
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The passage as a whole could be clarified by adding which of the following before the first sentence? (A) A brief paragraph about Native American timekeeping methods (B) An excerpt of an interview with a Lakota keeper of the winter counts (C) An analysis of how certain events make time seem longer than it really is (D) An example of a student who learned about her Native American background and became a keeper of winter counts (E) A discussion of how winter is viewed differently in different cultures