Question

select the text from the paragraph that best helps you understand that diminishes means becomes smaller. there may be more than one correct choice. the cello is a wooden musical instrument with four strings. its played by pulling a bow across the strings or plucking them. the cello is shaped like the violin but stands about four feet tall. because the cellos strings are longer than the violins, the cello has a lower - pitched sound. with stringed instruments, as the length of a string diminishes, the pitch becomes higher. the cello was developed about three hundred years ago. early players would squeeze the instrument between their knees to hold it up while playing. todays cello has a peg at the bottom, which makes it easier to play. the peg rests on the floor when its played.

Explanation:

To understand that "diminishes" means "becomes smaller", we look for a context where a change in string length relates to a change in pitch. The sentence "Because the cello’s strings are longer than the violin’s, the cello has a lower - pitched sound." sets up a relationship between string length and pitch. Then, "With stringed instruments, as the length of a string diminishes, the pitch becomes higher." connects a change in string length (diminishes) to a change in pitch (higher, which is the opposite of lower - pitched when strings are longer). So the relevant text is "Because the cello’s strings are longer than the violin’s, the cello has a lower - pitched sound. With stringed instruments, as the length of a string diminishes, the pitch becomes higher." (or just the part "as the length of a string diminishes, the pitch becomes higher" along with the prior comparison of cello and violin string lengths to show the inverse relationship).

Answer:

"Because the cello’s strings are longer than the violin’s, the cello has a lower - pitched sound. With stringed instruments, as the length of a string diminishes, the pitch becomes higher."