In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the ﬁrst script, or writing system, for an Indigenous language in
the United States. Because it represented the sounds of spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was easy to learn and
thus quickly achieved ______ use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read and write it.
widespread
careful
unintended
infrequent
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the writing system created by
Sequoyah. In this context, “widespread” means widely accepted or practiced. The text indicates that because Sequoyah’s
script accurately represented the spoken sounds of the Cherokee language and was easy to learn, nearly all Cherokee people
were able to read and write it soon after it was created. This context demonstrates that the script was widely used by the
Cherokee people.
Choice B is incorrect. In this context, “careful” would mean exercised with care and attentive concern. Although the work of
creating a writing system likely involved great care, the text indicates that the system was “easy to learn,” which conﬂicts
with the idea that using this system requires a noteworthy amount of care. Choice C is incorrect because in this context
“unintended” means not deliberate. The idea that using Sequoyah’s script was unintentional conﬂicts directly with the claim
that it was easy to learn and used by “over 90% of the Cherokee people” by 1830. In fact, because one had to learn this
system, it’s not clear how one could use it unintentionally. Choice D is incorrect because in this context “infrequent” means
rare or not occurring often, which conﬂicts directly with the claim that “over 90% of the Cherokee people” were using
Sequoyah’s script by 1830.