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Practice essay - 11 questions


aioria

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The penny press, which emerged in the United States during the 18-30's, was a powerful agent of mass communication. These newspapers were little dailies, generally four pages in length, written for the mass taste. They differed from the staid, formal presentation of the conservative press, with its emphasis on political and literary topics. The new papers were brief and cheap, emphasizing sensational reports of police courts and juicy scandals as well as human interest stories. Twentieth-century journalism was already foreshadowed in the penny press of the 1830's.

 

The New York Sun, founded in 1833, was the first successful penny paper, and it was followed two years later by the New York Herald, published by James Gordon Bennett. Not long after, Horace Greeley issued the New York Tribune, which was destined to become the most influential paper in America. Greeley gave space to the issues that

deeply touched the American people before the Civil War — abolitionism, temperance, free homesteads, Utopian cooperative settlements, and the problems of labor. The weekly edition of the Tribune, with 100,000 subscribers, had a remarkable influence in rural areas, especially in Western communities.

 

Americans were reputed to be the most avid readers of periodicals in the world. An English observer enviously calculated that, in 1829, the number of newspapers circulated in Great Britain was enough to reach only one out of every thirty-six inhabitants weekly; Pennsylvania in that same year had a newspaper circulation which reached one out of every four inhabitants weekly. Statistics seemed to justify the common belief that Americans were devoted to periodicals. Newspapers in the United States increased from 1,200 in 1833 to 3,000 by the early 1860' s, on the eve of the Civil War. This far exceeded the number and circulation of newspapers in England and France.

 

 

11. What is the author's main point in the first

paragraph?

(A) The penny press was modeled on earlier papers.

(B) The press in the nineteenth century reached only a small proportion of the population.

© The penny press became an important way of disseminating information in the first half of the nineteenth century.

(D) The penny press focused mainly on analysis of politics.

 

12. What does the author mean by the statement in lines 6-7 that

twentieth-century journalism was foreshadowed by the penny press?

(A) The penny press darkened the reputation of news writing.

(B) Twentieth-century journalism is more important than nineteenth-century journalism.

© Penny-press news reporting was more accurate than that in twentieth-century newspapers.

(D) Modern news coverage is similar to that done by the penny press.

 

13. Which of the following would LEAST likely be in a penny-press paper?

(A) A report of theft of union funds by company officials

(B) An article about a little girl returning a large amount of money she found in the street

© A scholarly analysis of an economic issue of national importance

(D) A story about land being given away in the West

 

14. The word "it" in line 8 refers to

(A) the New York Sun

(B) the New York Herald

© America

(D) the Civil War

 

15. Who was Horace Greeley (line 10)?

(A) The publisher of the first penny-press paper to make a profit

(B) The founder of the penny-press paper that did the most to influence

the thinking of the public

© The most successful writer for the penny press

(D) The man who took over James Gordon Bennett's penny-press paper

and made it successful

 

16. The word "remarkable" in line 14 is closest in meaning to

(A) significant

(B) discussable

© remote

(D) uneven

 

17. The word "avid" in line 16 is closest in meaning to

(A) intelligent

(B) eager

© critical

(D) thrifty

 

18. The figures concerning newspaper circulation in Pennsylvania in 1829 are relevant because they

(A) explain why so many different periodicals were published

(B) prove that weekly periodicals were more successful than daily papers

© show the difference between reading habits before and after the Civil War

(D) support the belief that Americans were enthusiastic readers of

periodicals

 

19. The word "justify" in line 20 is closest in meaning to

(A) generate

(B) calculate

© modify

(D) prove

 

20. The third paragraph is developed primarily by means of

(A) descriptions

(B) contrasts

© ordering events in time sequence

(D) analysis of a process

 

21. It can be inferred that penny-press newspapers were all of the following EXCEPT

(A) inexpensive

(B) informal

© profitable

(D) thorough

 

 

Correct Answers

11.- C

12.- C

13.- D

14.- C

15.- A

16.- B

17.- B

18.- D

19.- D

20.- B

21.- D

 

These are my answers

11.- C

12.- D

13.- C

14.- A

15.- B

16.- A

17.- B

18.- D

19.- D

20.- B

21.- D

 

Im sure the answer sheet has mistakes.

Let´s see wich your answers are[bounce]

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