Studying Informational Text Unit Test

Question

1 of 201 of 20 Items
Feature

"Nelly Bly Undercover"
by Dr. Howard Markel

Getting committed proved rather easy, even if neither Bly nor her editors had a clear plan of getting her released once the story was filed. She took a room at a cheap boarding house, “Temporary Home for Females, No. 84 Second Avenue,” under the name Bly Brown and began questioning and imitating the women who seemed most insane to her. Soon enough, it was Bly who was deemed crazy. The matron of the house enlisted a few cops to escort Bly to the Essex Market Police Courtroom, where an impatient judge named Duffy pronounced her insane and ordered her to the famed insane ward at Bellevue Hospital, the city’s largest charitable hospital.

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Question
Use the excerpt from the “How Nellie Bly went undercover to expose abuse of the mentally ill” article to answer the question.

Which of the following would be an invalid inference to make about this excerpt?

(1 point)
Responses which is the true correct answer a b c or d and why

People found it important to give the mentally insane a safe place to live.
People found it important to give the mentally insane a safe place to live.

The mentally insane were considered a danger to society.
The mentally insane were considered a danger to society.

Only someone who was medically qualified could declare someone mentally insane.
Only someone who was medically qualified could declare someone mentally insane.

People considered the mentally insane to be unable to determine their own status.
People considered the mentally insane to be unable to determine their own status.
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Answer 1

To determine which of the options provided would be an invalid inference based on the excerpt, let's analyze each option:

1. People found it important to give the mentally insane a safe place to live.

   • This inference could be seen as valid since Bly’s experience in the boarding house suggests an effort to provide a designated space for women who are mentally ill, though it appears quite the opposite.

2. The mentally insane were considered a danger to society.

   • This inference seems valid, as Bly was deemed insane and taken away, suggesting a societal perception that those who were mentally ill were a danger or needed to be removed from the general population.

3. Only someone who was medically qualified could declare someone mentally insane.

   • This inference is likely invalid based on the context given. The excerpt suggests that Bly was labeled insane by an impatient judge, and there is no indication in the text that any medical qualifications were involved in the determination.

4. People considered the mentally insane to be unable to determine their own status.

   • This inference could be valid because Bly’s experience implies that society viewed individuals deemed insane as lacking the ability to assess their own mental health, demonstrated by her inability to convince others of her sanity.

Based on this analysis, the invalid inference to make about the excerpt is:

Only someone who was medically qualified could declare someone mentally insane. This is invalid because the excerpt indicates a judge made the determination without any medical qualification mentioned.