PSAT Reading Question 420: Answer and Explanation

Question: 420

Which option gives the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

• A. Lines 5–8 ("I say . . . terrible")
• B. Lines 13–14 ("There was . . . sublime")
• C. Lines 16–17 ("It was . . . pondered")
• D. Lines 22–24 ("I reined . . . before")

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

(C) Lines 16–17 explicitly state the narrator's feeling that "[i]t was a mystery" and thus back up the answer for the previous question. Choices (A), (B), and (D) depict scenes in which the narrator feels unnerved but cannot shake his apprehension. As such, they evidence how the house makes the narrator feel but not how he understands his ability to assess that reaction.