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Expression of Ideas / Rhetorical Synthesis Difficulty: Medium

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

Shaun Tan is an Australian author.
In 2008, he published Tales from Outer Suburbia, a book of fifteen short stories.
The stories describe surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary suburban neighborhoods.
In 2018, he published Tales from the Inner City, a book of twenty-five short stories.
The stories describe surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary urban settings.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between the two books by Shaun Tan. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Shaun Tan’s book Tales from Outer Suburbia, which describes surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary places, contains fewer short stories than Tales from the Inner City does.

Tales from Outer Suburbia was published in 2008, and Tales from the Inner City was published in 2018.

Unlike Tales from the Inner City, Shaun Tan’s book Tales from Outer Suburbia is set in suburban neighborhoods.

Shaun Tan’s books Tales from Outer Suburbia and Tales from the Inner City both describe surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary places.

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Explanation

Choice D is the best answer. The sentence uses “both” to emphasize a thematic similarity between Tan’s two books, noting that both Tales from Outer Suburbia and Tales from the Inner City describe surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary places.

Choice A is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes a difference (one contains fewer stories than the other), not a similarity, between the two books. Choice B is incorrect. The sentence indicates that Tan’s books were published ten years apart; it doesn’t emphasize a similarity between the two books. Choice C is incorrect. The sentence uses “unlike” to emphasize a difference between Tales from Outer Suburbia and Tales from the Inner City; it doesn’t emphasize a similarity between the two books.