What aspect of the US in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries does the passage mainly discuss?

• Why young women chose to move from farms to cities

• The number and types of manufacturing jobs created in cities

• Changes in settlement patterns between farms and cities

• The effects of mechanization on western migration

The word "expansion" in line 1 is closest in meaning to

• change

• growth

• population

• labor

The word "abandoned" in line 3 is closest in meaning to...

• left behind

• sold

• gave away

• gradually reduced the size of

Why does the author discuss "prosperity" in line 4?

• To indicate that more than one factor contributed to the movement from rural to urban settlement

• To support the idea that many families were able to stop farming and migrate to the cities

• To suggest that the migration would have happened despite the economic situation

• To argue against economics as the primary factor in migration

According to the first paragraph, in the late 1800s, farmland was most likely to be purchased by ...

• city businessmen seeking new investments

• successful landowners who had mechanized farms

• young farm men starting to work

• people who had few opportunities in cities

The word "inevitably" in line 12 is closest in meaning to

• unexpectedly

• usually

• unavoidably

• possibly

The phrase "this trend" in line 14 refers to

• industrial workers becoming farmers

• the economic development of the countryside

• the loss of rural population

• innovations in manufacturing

According to the first paragraph, which of the following is true about the population of the US after the 1880s?

• fewer people lived on farms

• the central part of the US lost much of its population to rural areas in the West

• Rural areas of the West became more populated than those in the central part of the country

• Work opportunities in urban areas began to decline

According to the second paragraph, how did migration among young women in the rural West differ from that of young men?

• Young women were more likely to leave rural areas to go to urban areas

• Young women were more likely to take jobs on farms

• Young women who migrated generally had more education

• Young women generally moved more frequently from one rural area to another

The word "constricted" in line 24 is closest in meaning to

• unappealing

• reduced

• low-paying

• disappearing