Question

Read the excerpt from "The Enigma Machine.”

At Bletchley Park, the main site in Britain where Enigma codes were deciphered, six thousand messages were decoded every day by a staff of ten thousand men and women. Many of the messages were inconsequential, but more than a few were critical to the outcome of the war.

Which is the best summary of this paragraph?

A)At Bletchley Park, thousands of people worked hard to help the British and Allied troops during the war.
B)At Bletchley Park, the ten thousand people on the staff figured out over six thousand codes, some of which were very important to the war effort.
C)Ten thousand people worked at Bletchley Park, but some of the codes they solved were inconsequential to the war effort.
D)Six thousand codes were figured out at Bletchley Park, including some that had importance in regard to the war.

Answer 1

B)At Bletchley Park, the ten thousand people on the staff figured out over six thousand codes, some of which were very important to the war effort.

This is the best summary because it includes the most important of the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Option A is not correct because it adds in the details of the British and Allied troops. While this information is inferred if you know where Bletchley Park is located, it is not part of the original text. Option C is not correct because it is misleading. It focuses on the inconsequential codes rather than showing that some of their work was useful. Option D is also not the best choice because it leaves out the numbers which downplays the magnitude of people who worked hard to decipher the codes.

Answer 2

The correct answer is B. At Bletchley Park, the ten thousand people on the staff figured out over six thousand codes, some of which were very important to the war effort.

Step-by-step explanation:

In writing a summary refers to a brief account or compilation of the most important ideas or point developed in a paragraph or text. In the except presented the author explains in Britain and more specifically at Bletchley Park there were ten thousand workers trying to decipher around six thousand encoded messages and some of this messages had an important impact on the result of the war. This means the summary of this paragraph needs to include the more important details that are the place where the events occur, the number of messages and people that decipher them and the detail that some of them were crucial.

Therefore the best summary is " At Bletchley Park, the ten thousand people on the staff figured out over six thousand codes, some of which were very important to the war effort" because this includes the most important details presented in the text and does not modify or add the information of the original source.