Question

excerpt from \shoes: feet first!\
from a history of travel in 50 vehicles
by paula grey & philip hoose
despite the relatively recent age of the early shoes found to date, scientists
believe that humans were wearing shoes as much as 40,000 years ago.
shoes made of reeds, papyrus, or even leather decompose easily, leaving
few or no traces. but people who dont wear shoes have wider feet and
bigger gaps between their big toe and the other four. in studying bones of
the smaller toes of fossilized skeletons, scientists observed that the
thickness of these bones decreased somewhere between 40,000 and
26,000 years ago. they believe the change was the result of wearing shoes.

2
select the correct answer.
read this sentence again.
in studying bones of the smaller toes of fossilized skeletons, scientists observed that the thickness of these bones decreased somewhere betw
40,000 and 26,000 years ago.
how does the sentence develop the authors claim in the passage?
a. it shows how the scientists made their conclusions about what materials were used to make shoes.

b. it explains why people used reeds and papyrus to make their shoes.

c. it shows how the scientists made their conclusions about when people began wearing shoes.

d. it explains why the thickness of bones decreased in fossilized skeletons.

Explanation:

1. Analyze Option A: The sentence is about bone thickness and when people began wearing shoes, not shoe materials. Eliminate A.
2. Analyze Option B: The sentence has no content related to why reeds or papyrus were used for shoes. Eliminate B.
3. Analyze Option C: The passage claims people wore shoes 40,000 years ago. The sentence describes scientists studying fossilized bones' toe thickness (between 40,000 - 26,000 years ago) to conclude about when shoe - wearing began. This matches how the scientists reached their conclusion on the timing of shoe - wearing.
4. Analyze Option D: The sentence's main point is to support the claim about when people started wearing shoes, not just to explain why bone thickness decreased. The decrease in bone thickness is used as evidence for when shoe - wearing began. Eliminate D.

Answer:

C. It shows how the scientists made their conclusions about when people began wearing shoes.