Explanation
Correct answer: B.
Choice B is the best answer because it presents a supposed fact about the Pledge of Allegiance that, as the text explains, has recently become uncertain. The text begins by explaining the long-held belief that the original author of the US Pledge of Allegiance was Francis Bellamy, who claimed to have written it in August 1892. The text then describes a historian’s recent discovery of a newspaper article published several months before August 1892 that mentions students reciting the same pledge. The text concludes that this discovery suggests Bellamy may not have created the pledge after all. Thus, what has recently become uncertain is the identity of the person who first wrote the pledge.
Why the other choices are wrong
Choice A
Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t address any changes made to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1900s. The text focuses solely on the question of who originally authored the pledge in or before 1892 and doesn’t mention any subsequent modifications to its wording.
Choice C
Choice C is incorrect. While the text does mention a historian’s discovery of a newspaper article that described students reciting the pledge, it doesn’t suggest that the pledge was published in its entirety within that article. Moreover, the text doesn’t identify the newspaper by name or suggest the possibility of an earlier mention of the pledge in a different newspaper.
Choice D
Choice D is incorrect because the text doesn’t mention which parts of the Pledge of Allegiance students preferred in 1892 or at any other time. The text only states that a newspaper article described students reciting the pledge, without providing any information about their preferences regarding different portions of it.