Correct Answer: a city plan to ban plastic checkout bags
Passage Reference: our city council voted to study a ban on single-use checkout bags
Why this is correct: The blogger explains that the city council voted to study a ban on single-use checkout bags. Everyone in the blog post gives a view on it.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, find what the vote was about in the first paragraph. Each speaker then gives a view on it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- how to recycle old newspapers at home: Newspaper comes up only once, as a neighbour’s tip for lining the garbage can. Recycling it is not the topic.
- a new bus route to the grocery store: The writer takes the bus to the store, but no new bus route is discussed.
- a cleanup day planned for the riverbank: The cleanup day already happened in May. Toth mentions it as evidence for the ban.
Correct Answer: Mai Gregson
Passage Reference: warns that the ban could hit poorer families hardest
Why this is correct: Mai Gregson, who coordinates the food bank, warns that the ban could hit poorer families hardest. Many of her clients cannot afford sturdy bags.
Tips: Sort the speakers by whose costs they worry about: the city’s, a shop’s or shoppers’. Then check which worry is about money that families do not have.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Bonnie Toth: Bonnie Toth proposed the ban and talks about bags in the riverbank, not about poorer families.
- Kasper Upton: Kasper Upton talks about bags jamming the recycling machines, not about families with little money.
- Raul Lamont: Raul Lamont worries about his own store’s costs, not about poorer shoppers.
Correct Answer: a count of machine stops caused by bags
Passage Reference: staff have to stop the line almost every day to cut them free
Why this is correct: Upton says plastic bags wrap around the sorting machines and staff have to stop the line almost every day. A count of those stops would support his view.
Tips: Find what Upton says happens at the plant “almost every day”. Pick the evidence that would measure that problem.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a poll of shoppers who like cloth bags: Shoppers liking cloth bags says nothing about bags jamming Upton’s sorting machines.
- a survey of shoppers who forget their bags: Shoppers forgetting their bags is the blogger’s own habit. It says nothing about Upton’s machines.
- a list of families who use the food bank: Food bank families belong to Gregson’s concern, not to Upton’s argument about the recycling plant.
Correct Answer: stores would get six months to use up stock
Passage Reference: He wants six months’ notice so he can use up his stock before the rule starts.
Why this is correct: Lamont wants six months’ notice so he can use up his stock of plastic bags before the rule starts.
Tips: Look for the words “He wants” in Lamont’s lines. Notice the word “so”, which tells you why he needs the time.
Why the other options are wrong:
- shoppers would bring their own boxes: Lamont never mentions boxes. He wants time to use up his plastic stock.
- the government would buy his leftover stock: Lamont never asks the government to buy his leftover stock. He wants time to use it up himself.
- small stores would be exempt from the ban: Lamont is not against the ban, and he asks for notice, not an exemption.
Correct Answer: playful but sincere
Passage Reference: I will admit it: I am a plastic bag person.
Why this is correct: The writer jokes about being “a plastic bag person” and about the garbage can. But the writer still takes the issue seriously and comes out for the ban.
Tips: For a tone question, look at how the writer talks about personal habits in the first and last paragraphs. Then read the writer’s view on the ban.
Why the other options are wrong:
- angry and impatient: The blogger is never angry at anyone and even jokes about forgetting the cloth bags.
- cold and formal: The blog post is chatty and personal, with jokes about the kids’ stroller and the garbage can.
- gloomy and hopeless: The post ends with a practical fix, moving the cloth bags into the stroller, which is not hopeless.
Correct Answer: the mess along the riverbank
Passage Reference: volunteers pulled more than nine hundred bags out of the riverbank on a single cleanup day in May
Why this is correct: Toth, the councillor, says volunteers pulled more than nine hundred bags out of the riverbank on a single cleanup day.
Tips: The comment calls her “the councillor who proposed the ban”, so find Toth’s lines. Look at the evidence she gave from the cleanup day.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the litter around the bus stops: Bus stops are never mentioned. Toth’s evidence comes from the riverbank.
- the bags stuck in school fences: Schools and fences are never mentioned. The bags Toth describes were tangled in willows by the river.
- the waste behind the grocery stores: Toth never talks about waste behind stores. Her example is the cleanup day.
Correct Answer: oil and natural gas
Passage Reference: the bags are made from oil and natural gas
Why this is correct: The engineer, Kasper Upton, points out that the bags are made from oil and natural gas.
Tips: The comment calls him “the engineer”, so find Upton’s lines. Read the sentence that starts “He also points out”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- recycled paper and corn: Upton says the bags come from oil and natural gas, not paper and corn.
- old tires and rubber: Tires and rubber are never mentioned in the blog post.
- wood pulp and wax: Wood pulp and wax are never mentioned. Upton names oil and natural gas.
Correct Answer: paper bags cost four times as much
Passage Reference: Paper bags cost him four times as much as plastic ones
Why this is correct: Lamont, the store owner, says paper bags cost him four times as much as plastic ones.
Tips: The comment calls him “the store owner”, so find Lamont’s lines. Read his complaint and put it in your own words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- shoppers steal his cloth bags: Nobody mentions stolen bags. Lamont’s complaint is about the price of paper bags.
- the city never asked his opinion: Lamont never says he was ignored. His worry is the cost of paper bags and his leftover stock.
- customers now shop at big stores: Lamont does not say he is losing customers. He talks about the cost of paper bags.
Correct Answer: line the garbage can
Passage Reference: end their lives lining our kitchen garbage can
Why this is correct: In the first paragraph, the writer says the plastic bags end their lives lining the kitchen garbage can.
Tips: The comment says “Like you”, so look for what the writer did with the old bags. Read the third sentence of the first paragraph to the end.
Why the other options are wrong:
- carry lunches to work: Lunches are never mentioned. The bags line the garbage can.
- wrap wet winter boots: Boots are never mentioned. The bags go under the sink and then into the garbage can.
- pick up after the dog: No dog is mentioned in the blog post. The bags line the garbage can.
Correct Answer: the stroller that the kids use
Passage Reference: the cloth bags have already moved from the hook by the door into the kids’ stroller
Why this is correct: Look at the last paragraph. The cloth bags have already moved from the hook by the door into the kids’ stroller.
Tips: The comment calls it “a clever trick”, so look for the writer’s new habit in the last paragraph. Notice where the bags moved from and to.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the trunk of the family car: The family takes the bus to the grocery store, and no car is mentioned.
- a basket beside the front door: The bags used to hang on a hook by the door, and that is exactly where they kept being forgotten.
- a drawer in the office at work: An office is never mentioned. The bags now go in the stroller.
