Question

read the excerpt from mother tongue. those tests were constructed around items like fill - in - the - blank sentence completion, such as \even though tom was _, mary thought he was _\ and the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts, for example, \even though tom was foolish, mary thought he was ridiculous.\ well, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what tom could have been and what mary might have thought of him. so i never did well on tests like that. what can be inferred from the excerpt? tan believes that achievement tests should include a wider variety of fill - in - the - blank questions. tan believes that achievement tests should be constructed by published authors of fiction. tan believes that achievement tests give inadequate measurements of language ability. tan believes that achievement tests give inflated measurements of language ability.

Explanation:

The author mentions that the correct answers on tests were very bland combinations, and their mother thought there were few limitations to what could be said. The author didn't do well on such tests, implying dissatisfaction with the tests' ability to measure language ability.

Answer:

Tan believes that achievement tests give inadequate measurements of language ability.