Which term describes the quality or feature shared by all members of a class of objects or substances?

• A. Common Attribute
• B. Individual Characteristics
• C. Class Characteristics
• D. DNA Pattern

Answer: (C)

In this context, features that are common to all items in a group are called class characteristics. They represent traits that define a category or model and help place evidence into that broader class. They’re useful for narrowing down possibilities to a manufacturing or model level, but they can’t point to a single specific source because every item within the class shares them. The other idea—individual characteristics—are the unique details that distinguish one item from all others, which is why they can be used to link evidence to a particular source. DNA patterns tend to function as individual identifiers, linking to a person rather than a general class. So the term that describes the shared quality across a class is class characteristics.