Self-study
Essayist: Conclusion Earth is a living organism, composed of other organisms much as animals are composed of cells, not merely a thing upon which creatures live. ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ███ ██ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ███ █████ ████████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████████████
Summarize Argument
The essayist concludes that Earth is a living organism. As support for this conclusion, the essayist says that it can be said that Earth has a metabolism and can regulate its temperature and humidity. The essayist then anticipates and rejects a counter argument: the essayist concedes that Earth does not breathe, but to show that breathing is not necessary for being considered an organism, cites the example of insects, which are organisms that do not breathe.
Identify Argument Part
The assertion in the question stem is used to reject the counter-argument that the essayist anticipates. The assertion in the question stem demonstrates why it is not relevant to the essayist’s conclusion that the Earth does not literally breathe.
2.
The assertion that insects do ███ █████████ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
a reason for ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ █████████
The assertion in the question stem demonstrates why it is not a problem for the essayist’s conclusion that Earth does not literally breathe.
b
a reason for █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████████
The assertion in the question stem actually provides support for the belief that Earth is a living organism; the assertion in the question stem allows the essayist to reject an anticipated counter-argument.
c
an illustration of ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████████ █ ████████ ████ ████ █ ██████████
The claim about insects is used to demonstrate that not all organisms breathe; the assertion in the question stem is not provided in relation to the claim that all organisms have a metabolism.
d
an example of █ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████
Insects are given as an example of a living thing that is clearly an organism, not an organism whose status is unclear.
e
an illustration of █ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ █████ █████ ██ ████████
The assertion in the question stem is used to show that not all living things must be able to breathe; it is not given as an example of the kinds of organisms that make up Earth.