Transfer a 20-mL aliquot of the diluted sample to a 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask. Add 2 drops of methyl orange and titrate with the standard HCl until near the equivalence point (about 2 mL less than the recorded V(methyl orange) in the preliminary test). Boil the solution for 2-3 minutes, cool and complete the titration to the methyl orange endpoint. This titration will give the total basic strength (total number of milliequivalents of NaOH and Na2CO3) of the solution.