What does the father’s final comment, “Next time, leave in my brother,” suggest about how he feels?
Read a Literary Passage · ELPAC Grades 11–12 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A short story or scene, with questions about characters, events and what words mean in context.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
What My Father Said
The loan officer had a habit of tapping her pen against the folder whenever she finished a sentence, and by the third tap Teresa had started to dread it.
“Ask your father,” the woman said, “whether the food truck has been profitable for the past twelve months.” Tap.
Teresa turned to her father and put the question into Spanish. He listened with his hands folded on the table, the way he listened to the news on the radio, and then answered at length. The truck had made money every month except the two when the generator broke, and that was the generator’s fault, not his. He had paid back every dollar he had ever borrowed, including the money from his own brother, which was more than his brother could say.
Teresa turned back to the officer. “He says it has been profitable for ten of the last twelve months. The two exceptions were due to an equipment repair.”
It was true. It was also not what he had said. She had left out the brother, and the pride, and the place where his voice rose a little. She had made him sound like a man who filled out forms.
The officer nodded and wrote something down, and the meeting went on that way for twenty minutes: long answers in Spanish, short answers in English, and Teresa in the middle, trimming.
In the parking lot her father unlocked the truck and did not start it.
“Ten of twelve,” he said in English. “Equipment repair.”
Teresa stared at him. In seventeen years she had never heard him put together an English sentence longer than a price.
“I understand more than I say,” he said, in Spanish now. “You did well. You made me sound like a bank.” He turned the key, and the engine coughed and caught. “Next time, leave in my brother. She would have liked that part.”
The question
Choose the best answer.
What does the father’s final comment, “Next time, leave in my brother,” suggest about how he feels?
- He wants Teresa to stop translating for him.
- He believes the loan depends on the story about his brother.
- He is proud of her skill but wants to be heard as himself, pride and stories included.Correct answer
- He regrets having lent money to his brother.
Why “He is proud of her skill but wants to be heard as himself, pride and stories included.” is correct
This asks for an inference about mixed feelings, which is typical of upper-band literary items. The father praises her ('You did well') and even jokes that she made him 'sound like a bank', yet he asks for the brother story back, the part that carried his personality and pride. Choice c is the only answer that holds both halves: approval of her skill and a wish to sound like himself.
Why the other answers are wrong
- He wants Teresa to stop translating for him. — He says 'Next time', which assumes she will translate for him again.
- He believes the loan depends on the story about his brother. — He says the officer 'would have liked that part', a matter of enjoyment, not a claim that the loan depends on it.
- He regrets having lent money to his brother. — The father borrowed from his brother, not the other way round, and he is proud of having paid it back; nothing shows regret.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 11–12, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 11–12. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.