Question

Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness.
Which best summarizes the central idea in the excerpt?
Tan is troubled by the way her mother uses the English language.
Tan is uncomfortable using negative terms to describe her mother’s English.
Tan has difficulty trying to explain what she means when she writes in English.
Tan has found that the English language is lacking in descriptive word choices.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. Tan is uncomfortable using negative terms to describe her mother’s English.

Explanation:

The excerpt presented belongs to "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan, in this, Tan describes the way her mother speaks English and how this has an effect. Indeed, in the excerpt presented, Tan reflects on how the way her mother speaks English is considered as "broken" or "fracture" as these are the terms she and other people use to refer to the English of her mother.

However, this also makes the author feel uncomfortable, this is explained in "I wince when I say that" and "It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it" which shows the Amy Tan does not agree with the terms "broken" or "fracture" because she does not consider the language of her mother needs to be fixed. Thus, the statement that best summarizes the central idea is "Tan is uncomfortable using negative terms to describe her mother’s English".