Excerpt from Cherokee Indian Ancestry

US Dept. of the Interior

Others went into the Appalachian Mountains to escape being moved west and many of their descendants may still live there now.

What is the meaning of the word descendants as it is used in the first paragraph of the document?

A) people who moved West

B) members of the Cherokee tribe

C) those who declined to be moved

D) family members whose ancestors were Cherokee

D) family members whose ancestors were Cherokee

Explanation:

Descendants means "downward". It is often used to define the relationship between people or the origin of a family. The word can be used to refer to subsequent generations of the same family: children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.

For this reason, we can conclude that the word "descendants" used in the paragraph shown in the above question is intended to refer to family members whose ancestors were Cherokee and who still live in the Appalachians.

D. It means that the people who descended from those that moved are still in the Appalachians today