Question

cumulative exam
cumulative exam complete

read the excerpt from \mother tongue.\

lately, ive been giving more thought to the kind of english my mother speaks. like others, i have described
it to people as \broken\ or \fractured\ english. but i wince when i say that. it has always bothered me that i
can think of no other way to describe it other than \broken,\ as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as
if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.

how does tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

tan discusses her thoughts about language to build the idea that the english language does not have words to
match some chinese terms.
tan discusses her relationship with her mother to build the idea that mothers and daughters in all cultures often
have misunderstandings.
tan discusses her mothers use of english to build the idea that a form of language can be purposeful and
meaningful even if it is nonstandard.
tan discusses the english language to build the idea that there is a lack of appropriate synonyms for the word
\broken.\

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: The excerpt focuses on her mother's English, not Chinese terms matching English. Eliminate.
• Option 2: The excerpt is about language (mother's English), not mother - daughter misunderstandings across cultures. Eliminate.
• Option 3: Tan talks about her mother's "broken" English but dislikes that term as it implies it's flawed. She implies her mother's English has purpose and meaning despite being non - standard. This matches.
• Option 4: The excerpt is about her mother's English, not synonyms for "broken". Eliminate.

Answer:

C. Tan discusses her mother’s use of English to build the idea that a form of language can be purposeful and meaningful even if it is nonstandard.