Words in Context

SAT Reading and Writing· difficulty 3/5

The biographer is candid about the limits of her sources. Where her subject's diaries fall silent — for the better part of two years in the 1880s — she resists the temptation to invent.

As used in the text, what does the phrase "fall silent" most nearly mean?

  • A

    go out of fashion

  • B

    stop providing information

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  • C

    lose hearing

  • D

    drop quietly to the floor

Explanation

The diaries provide no record for two years, so "fall silent" means stop providing information, not the literal falling, fashion, or hearing senses.

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