Question

(1) In the winter of 1980, Dr. Keith Farrow and Emily Lane, a professor and a graduate student at Hickory College, they began to discuss turning a parcel of land on the west side of campus into an arboretum. (2) This was around the time that the United States men’s ice hockey team shocked the world by winning the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. (3) A grove of sycamore trees on the land was plagued with disease. (4) It was also in a state of serious neglect. (5) Few people held out much hope that any of the trees in the grove could be saved. (6) Dr. Farrow and Mrs. Lane, however, formed a committee devoted to doing just that and, to everyone’s surprise and delight, were awarded a grant from the EPA to save the grove and establish the arboretum. (7) In 1981, a fundraising drive was begun by the Hickory College Green Thumb Club to raise additional money for the project.
(8) Meanwhile, Dr. Farrow and Mrs. Lane began to use their grant money to try to salvage some of the sycamore trees. (9) Their efforts were fairly successful; only six trees could not be saved. (10) The Green Thumb Club then divided the land formerly occupied by the dead trees into small plots. (11) These plots were used for organic gardening. (12) By the summer of 1982, the newly named McCauley Arboretum was up and running. (13) Today it is one of Hickory College’s most beloved campus features.

Which of the following sentences does not belong in the first paragraph of the passage?


Sentence 3

Sentence 1

Sentence 2

Sentence 5

Sentence 4

Answer 1

Sentence 2 This was around the time that the United States men’s ice hockey team shocked the world by winning the gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

The purpose of this paragraph is to show how Dr. Farrow and Mrs. Lane created an arboretum and save a grove of Sycamore trees. Sentences 1, 3, 4, and 5 all add to the purpose of the paragraph. Sentence 2, however, talks about the US men's ice hockey team winning the gold medal. This win had nothing to do with the arboretum or saving the Sycamore trees. While interesting, it does not belong in this passage.