Command of Evidence (Textual) sample question 1

"Her boots were soaked and her hands were numb, but Adaeze pulled her hood tighter and walked on."

Command of Evidence (Textual) sample question 2

After the lanes were added, bicycle counts on the avenue rose while store foot traffic stayed about the same.

Command of Evidence (Textual) sample question 3

NELL: "If the roof caves in, Mother, we'll finally get a good look at the stars."

Command of Evidence (Textual) sample question 4

"Her teacup, chipped where she would set it down / too hard, still holds the shape of her impatience."

Command of Evidence (Textual) sample question 5

"No line I set in ink could hold the chill / of fog that rose each morning off the marsh."

SAT · Reading and Writing · Information and Ideas

Command of Evidence (Textual)

Command of Evidence (Textual) is part of Information and Ideas in the SAT Reading and Writing section. The questions below are written in the style of the real test, each with the answer and a worked explanation.

Question types you will see here include quotation that supports a literary claim, finding that supports a hypothesis, finding that undermines a claim and evidence for a historical claim.

Common traps: quote from the right scene that shows the opposite; quote that mentions the topic but not the claim; quote that supports a broader claim.

Sample questions

Command of Evidence (Textual)
A student claims that in the original story "The Last Lantern," the character Adaeze is determined to finish her journey despite hardship.
Question 1
Which quotation from the story most effectively illustrates the student's claim?
- A.
  "Adaeze wondered whether the village had ever existed at all."
- B.
  "The lantern flickered, casting strange shapes on the snow."
- C.
  "Adaeze had packed bread, cheese, and a small tin of tea."
- D.
  "Her boots were soaked and her hands were numb, but Adaeze pulled her hood tighter and walked on."
Answer: D. "Her boots were soaked and her hands were numb, but Adaeze pulled her hood tighter and walked on."
Continuing to walk despite soaked boots and numb hands shows determination in the face of hardship.
Question 2
Which finding, if true, would most directly support both parts of the planner's claim?
- A.
  Car traffic on a nearby street increased.
- B.
  Most cyclists on the avenue wore helmets.
- C.
  Several stores on the avenue sell bicycles.
- D.
  After the lanes were added, bicycle counts on the avenue rose while store foot traffic stayed about the same.
Answer: D. After the lanes were added, bicycle counts on the avenue rose while store foot traffic stayed about the same.
The claim has two parts, more cycling and no drop in shoppers; only the correct choice addresses both.
Question 3
Which quotation from The Lamplighter's Daughter most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A.
  NELL: "I've told you three times now, Mother: I'll be home well before it gets dark."
- B.
  NELL: "You fret because you love me, and I'd not have you love me any less."
- C.
  NELL: "The doctor says the cough will pass if I rest, and I mean to rest, I promise."
- D.
  NELL: "If the roof caves in, Mother, we'll finally get a good look at the stars."
Answer: D. NELL: "If the roof caves in, Mother, we'll finally get a good look at the stars."
Nell turns her mother's fear of the roof collapsing into a joke about stargazing, using humor to shrink the worry. Choices A and C also answer the mother's worries, but they do so with sincere reassurance rather than jokes.
Question 4
Which quotation from "Winter Inventory" most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A.
  "Her teacup, chipped where she would set it down / too hard, still holds the shape of her impatience."
- B.
  "The snow has filled the garden to the sills / and buried every path we used to walk."
- C.
  "I count the jars of jam along the shelf / and wonder who will eat them come the spring."
- D.
  "How strange that grief should feel so much like cold, / a thing that finds the bones and settles there and stays."
Answer: A. "Her teacup, chipped where she would set it down / too hard, still holds the shape of her impatience."
The chipped teacup, an everyday household object, records her habit of setting it down too hard and so preserves her impatience, a trait of her personality. Choice C also features household objects and hints at an absence, but the jars reveal nothing about the character of the person who is gone.
Question 5
Which quotation from "The Cartographer" most effectively illustrates the claim?
- A.
  "I drew the river's every bend and fork / and named each hill the way the surveyors said."
- B.
  "The old maps lied; they set a sea / where mountains stood, and towns where there were none."
- C.
  "I folded up the coastline in my coat / and carried it for years through foreign towns."
- D.
  "No line I set in ink could hold the chill / of fog that rose each morning off the marsh."
Answer: D. "No line I set in ink could hold the chill / of fog that rose each morning off the marsh."
The speaker admits that no inked line can capture the chill of the morning fog, a sensory experience of the place that a map cannot convey. Choice B criticizes maps, but for being inaccurate, whereas the claim concerns the limits of even accurate maps.

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