Question
Read the following excerpt from a student essay. How can the writer best improve his or her ideas and development?
An elephant's trunk has many purposes, including breathing, smelling, drinking, lifting, and communicating. It contains about one hundred thousand different muscles. Elephants have a very long gestation period: a female is pregnant for nearly twenty-two months before giving birth. Newborn calves weigh as much as two hundred pounds. Sadly, thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory tusks. Even though the ivory trade is illegal, it has not been completely stopped. As a result, elephants are endangered.
A. By clearly stating the main idea
B. By focusing on one main idea
C. By including more details
An elephant's trunk has many purposes, including breathing, smelling, drinking, lifting, and communicating. It contains about one hundred thousand different muscles. Elephants have a very long gestation period: a female is pregnant for nearly twenty-two months before giving birth. Newborn calves weigh as much as two hundred pounds. Sadly, thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory tusks. Even though the ivory trade is illegal, it has not been completely stopped. As a result, elephants are endangered.
A. By clearly stating the main idea
B. By focusing on one main idea
C. By including more details
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The writer can best improve their ideas and development **B. By focusing on one main idea**. Currently, the excerpt presents multiple unrelated facts about elephants, including their biology, reproduction, and conservation status. By choosing a single focus, such as the threats to elephants and their conservation, the writer can develop a more coherent argument and provide a deeper exploration of that topic. This would help readers better understand the implications of the information presented.