Asian American Voices

Which of the following best summarizes one central idea of the passage from "Mother Tongue"?

All forms of the English language are meaningful and purposeful.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

NOT: Tan discusses the limits of writing in English to support the idea that authors learn other languages to express their ideas more fully

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." And here you would be presented with a list of four possible pairs, one of which showed the same kind of relationship: red is to stoplight, bus is to arrival, chills is to fever, yawn is to boring. Well, I could never think that way. I knew what the tests were asking, but I could not block out of my mind the images already created by the first pair, "sunset is to nightfall"—and I would see a burst of colors against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the lowering of a curtain of stars. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

NOT: Tan gives an example of a test question to support the idea that more efforts must be made in the home to expose children to standard English.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Lately, I've 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. Which best summarizes the central idea in the excerpt?

NOT: Tan is troubled by the way her mother uses the English language.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English. What can be inferred from the excerpt?

Nonstandard forms of English can be as effective as the standard form of English.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with. Which best summarizes the central idea of the excerpt?

Nonstandard forms of English imply close relationships and family values.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with. What can be inferred from the excerpt?

Tan believes that nonstandard English can be an important part of family culture.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

Tan describes a realization she makes while with her husband to support the idea that nonstandard forms of English are important forms of communication.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

Tan discusses her mother's English to support the idea that the language of one's childhood is a person's deepest, truest form of expression.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

Tan expresses an opinion to support the idea that people who speak nonstandard forms of English are unfairly judged in negative ways.

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. How does Tan build a central idea of her story in the excerpt?

Tan gives an example of her experience with achievement tests to support the idea that they are not always accurate measures of language ability.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture and I heard myself saying this: "Not waste money that way." My husband was with us as well, and he didn't notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. It's because over the twenty years we've been together I've often used that same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with. Which information from the excerpt best supports the inference that nonstandard forms of English can express relationship nuances that standard English cannot?

Tan uses the nonstandard English of her childhood with her husband because it expresses intimacy.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English. Which information from the excerpt best supports the inference that all forms of English can be effective forms of communication?

Tan uses the word "impeccable" to describe her mother's English.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Lately, I've 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. What best supports the inference that Tan believes nonstandard English is no less valid than standard English?

Tan winces when she describes her mother's English as "broken."

Which of the following best summarizes one central idea of the passage from "Mother Tongue"?

The expression of experience through language is more powerful when different forms of English are accepted.

Which of the following best summarizes one central idea of the passage from "Mother Tongue"?

The way a person speaks English is not a good measure of intellectual ability.

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." And sure enough, the following week there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English. The inference suggested by this excerpt is that nonstandard forms of English

can be as effective as the standard form of English