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Expression of Ideas / Rhetorical Synthesis Difficulty: Medium

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

Earthquakes start at a point called a “focus” and spread out from there as seismic waves.
The two types of seismic waves that travel beneath Earth’s surface are primary waves (P waves) and secondary waves (S waves).
P waves travel more quickly beneath Earth’s surface than do S waves.
P waves compress and expand the ground, causing it to move backward and forward.
S waves cause the ground to move from side to side.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between P waves and S waves. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

P waves and S waves both travel beneath Earth’s surface, causing the ground to move.

P waves travel away from an earthquake’s starting point at a higher rate of speed than do S waves.

Spreading out from the focus of an earthquake, P waves move the ground backward and forward.

Although P waves and S waves start at the same point, they behave very differently.

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Explanation

Choice A is the best answer. The sentence emphasizes a similarity between P waves and S waves, noting that they both travel beneath Earth’s surface, thereby causing the ground to move.

Choice B is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes a difference between P waves and S waves, noting that P waves travel faster than S waves; it doesn’t emphasize a similarity between the two types of waves. Choice C is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes how P waves move; it doesn’t emphasize a similarity between P waves and S waves. Choice D is incorrect. While the sentence acknowledges that P waves and S waves start at the same point, it doesn’t emphasize a similarity; instead, the sentence emphasizes a difference between the two types of waves, noting that they behave very differently.