Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World. Starting around 1800, sugar became the staple food that allowed the English facto

Question

18 days ago

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Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World. Starting around 1800, sugar became the staple food that allowed the English facto

ries—the most advanced economies in the world—to run. Sugar supplied the energy, the hint of nutrition, the sweet taste to go with the warmth of tea that even the poorest factory worker could look forward to. Sugar was a necessity. Why were the English the first to build factories to mill cloth? Because of the wealth they gained, the trade connections they made, and the banking systems they developed in the slave and sugar trade. Indeed, the cheap cloth from the factories was used to clothe the slaves. English factories, you might say, were built, run, and paid for by sugar. In 1800, when the English were consuming their eighteen pounds of sugar a year, around 250,000 tons of sugar was produced worldwide—almost all sent to Europe. A century later, in 1900, when sugar was used in jams, cakes, syrups, and tea, and every modern country was filled with factories, world production of sugar reached six million tons. By that time, the average person in England ate ninety pounds of sugar a year—and in the early twentieth century, that number kept rising. (Americans today eat only about 40 pounds of cane sugar a year, but that is because other forms of sweeteners, such as corn syrup, are now cheaper than cane sugar. If you consider all forms of sweetener, Americans eat an average of 140 pounds every year.) How do the details in this passage support the authors’ purpose?
-The authors include details about how much sugar Americans consume to persuade readers that modern diets are unhealthy.
-The authors include details about the changes in diets over time to inform readers about how sugar has transformed what we eat.
-The authors include details about how much sugar people have eaten over time to entertain readers with surprising statistics.
-The authors include details about American and British diets to persuade readers that eating habits now are healthier than they were in the past.

English

2 answers:

seraphim [6.2K] · Answer 1 · 2026-03-15T16:42:22+03:00

C. The details about sugar consumption over time are provided by the authors to engage readers with surprising statistics.

Upon reviewing the excerpt, it is clear that no arguments are being made or defended. Consequently, we can conclude that this section does not aim to persuade. While information about dietary changes is presented, it serves to support the statistics. The alarming nature of the statistics appears to be primarily for shock value or purely for entertainment.

Flura [5.9K] · Answer 2 · 2026-03-15T16:45:14+03:00

I believe the correct response is: The authors provide information regarding dietary changes over time to educate readers on the impact sugar has had on our food consumption.

The primary hint leading to this conclusion is the title, Sugar Changed the World, which suggests the author intends to discuss the historical transformations brought about by sugar, including dietary shifts. The title also implies an informative nature as the author references sugar-related events, presenting statistics and facts. There is no persuasive tone indicated, hence we, as readers, are not driven to alter our beliefs, making options 1 and 4 incorrect.

Although some statistics are shared, this type of text is not intended to captivate readers with "shocking statistics" since it carries an academic tone and likely originates from a book or research paper, with the main goal being to inform. If statistics were intended to astonish us, a more casual language would have been employed, typical of an entertainment magazine.