Why does Nadia find her mother's calm more unnerving than shouting would have been?
Read a Literary Passage · ELPAC Grades 9–10 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.
Four Miles of Fog
Nadia had carried the permit in her wallet for six weeks before her mother agreed to sit in the passenger seat. The first three Saturdays they circled the empty lot behind the church, turning wide loops until the orange cones stopped mattering. On the fourth Saturday her mother pointed at the road that ran past the almond orchard.
“Four miles,” she said. “You will not meet anyone.”
Nadia met the fog instead. It came off the fields in low gray sheets, the way it does in the Valley in January, and by the second mile the orchard rows had dissolved into a single pale wall. She could see the yellow line and about two car lengths past the hood. Her hands went tight on the wheel.
“Slower,” her mother said. She did not raise her voice. She had not raised it once in four Saturdays, which Nadia found more unnerving than shouting would have been.
Nadia let the speedometer fall to fifteen. The engine noise dropped with it, and for a while the only sounds were the tires on wet asphalt and her mother breathing evenly beside her, as though this were a bus she happened to be riding.
A pair of headlights surfaced ahead, floated past, and vanished. Nadia's shoulders came down half an inch.
“You are doing what you should be doing,” her mother said. “Keep the line on your left. Count the driveways.”
At the fourth driveway Nadia turned onto the gravel, stopped, and put the car in park. Her fingers had left damp marks on the wheel. She waited for the review of everything she had done wrong, the one that had always followed her brother's lessons.
Her mother unbuckled her seat belt, leaned back against the headrest, and said, “Again next Saturday.”
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does Nadia find her mother's calm more unnerving than shouting would have been?
- She is worried that her mother has not noticed how thick the fog is.
- She cannot tell what her mother thinks of her driving, and she expects to be corrected.Correct answer
- She believes her mother is too tired to watch the road.
- She wants her mother to speak loudly enough to be heard over the engine.
Why “She cannot tell what her mother thinks of her driving, and she expects to be corrected.” is correct
This is an inference question that requires holding two paragraphs together. The line about the mother's steady voice comes early, and the explanation arrives much later, when Nadia waits for 'the review of everything she had done wrong, the one that had always followed her brother's lessons'. Ask the student what Nadia is bracing for, and the silence becomes suspense rather than kindness.
Why the other answers are wrong
- She is worried that her mother has not noticed how thick the fog is. — The mother reacts to the fog immediately by telling Nadia to slow down, so she has clearly noticed it.
- She believes her mother is too tired to watch the road. — The mother is alert throughout, giving instructions about the line and the driveways.
- She wants her mother to speak loudly enough to be heard over the engine. — Nothing in the passage suggests Nadia struggles to hear her mother; the car is described as quiet.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 9–10, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 9–10. 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.