Which quotation from *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* most effectively illustrates the claim? *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. In the novel, the narrator describes a character's house as having become very faded in appearance over time: ______

"Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else."

"Once more [Dorothy and her companions] could see fences built beside the road; but these were painted green, and when they came to a small house, in which a farmer evidently lived, that also was painted green."

"Then [Dorothy] went back to the house, and having, helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds."

"When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country."

Which quotation from *Treasure Island* most effectively illustrates the claim? *Treasure Island* is an 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. When the narrator was a child, his father ran a hotel. A mysterious sailor came to stay at the hotel. The narrator was frightened of the sailor, as can be seen when the narrator says, ______

"How [the sailor] haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house and the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions."

"I remember [the sailor] as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea chest following behind him in a hand-barrow."

"[The sailor] was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope."

"All the time he lived with us [the sailor] made no change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the [corners] of his hat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it was a great annoyance when it blew."

Which quotation from *Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge* most effectively illustrates the claim? *Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge* is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing, ______

"Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great; and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."

"How careful ought we to be to speak nothing but the truth, even in regard to the most trifling circumstances; and not only so, but to be well assured that what we suppose to be true, is truth, before we receive it as such."

"Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."

"To give some idea of the high esteem in which the subject of the following narrative is held, and the strong interest her misfortunes have excited, a few, from the great number of recommendations in her possession, are selected."

Reading & Writing · Information and Ideas

Command of Evidence

Select the evidence that best supports a claim or completes an argument.

What the SAT Tests

Command-of-Evidence questions give you a claim or hypothesis and ask you to pick the data point, quote, or finding that most directly supports or weakens it. On the Digital SAT, these often involve tables or figures.

Key Tips for Command of Evidence

State exactly what the claim is in your own words before evaluating choices.
Match specific numbers from tables to specific wording in the claim.
Eliminate answers that are off-topic or that support a different claim.

Sample Command of Evidence Questions

These are real practice questions pulled from our Digital SAT bank. Try each one before reading the highlighted correct answer.

Question 1 · Easy
Which quotation from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz most effectively illustrates the claim?
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum. In the novel, the narrator describes a character's house as having become very faded in appearance over time: ______
- A. "Once more [Dorothy and her companions] could see fences built beside the road; but these were painted green, and when they came to a small house, in which a farmer evidently lived, that also was painted green."
- B. "Then [Dorothy] went back to the house, and having, helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds."
- C. "Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else."Correct
- D. "When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country."
Question 2 · Easy
Which quotation from Treasure Island most effectively illustrates the claim?
Treasure Island is an 1883 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. When the narrator was a child, his father ran a hotel. A mysterious sailor came to stay at the hotel. The narrator was frightened of the sailor, as can be seen when the narrator says, ______
- A. "How [the sailor] haunted my dreams, I need scarcely tell you. On stormy nights, when the wind shook the four corners of the house and the surf roared along the cove and up the cliffs, I would see him in a thousand forms, and with a thousand diabolical expressions."Correct
- B. "I remember [the sailor] as if it were yesterday, as he came plodding to the inn door, his sea chest following behind him in a hand-barrow."
- C. "[The sailor] was a very silent man by custom. All day he hung round the cove or upon the cliffs with a brass telescope."
- D. "All the time he lived with us [the sailor] made no change whatever in his dress but to buy some stockings from a hawker. One of the [corners] of his hat having fallen down, he let it hang from that day forth, though it was a great annoyance when it blew."
Question 3 · Easy
Which quotation from Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge most effectively illustrates the claim?
Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing, ______
- A. "How careful ought we to be to speak nothing but the truth, even in regard to the most trifling circumstances; and not only so, but to be well assured that what we suppose to be true, is truth, before we receive it as such."
- B. "Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great; and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."Correct
- C. "Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."
- D. "To give some idea of the high esteem in which the subject of the following narrative is held, and the strong interest her misfortunes have excited, a few, from the great number of recommendations in her possession, are selected."

Practice Command of Evidence Questions

Drill command of evidence questions in the Digital SAT Reading & Writing question bank, or take a full-length practice module to see how this skill appears under test conditions.

FAQs

What is Command of Evidence on the Digital SAT?

How hard are command of evidence questions?

Command of Evidence questions appear at every difficulty level on the Digital SAT Reading & Writing section. The hardest versions gate access to the top scaled scores in the hard Module 2.

How do I practice command of evidence?

Use the 1600.now question bank to filter for command of evidence questions, solve at least 20 in a row, and review every miss with the written explanation.