SAT Reading and Writing - Text Structure and Purpose (pg. 14 qb)

The following text is from Annie Dillard's 1987 autobiographical novel An American Childhood. The narrator is a young girl living in Pittsburgh. I walked. My mother had given me the freedom of the streets as soon as I could say our telephone number. I walked and memorized the neighborhood. I made a mental map and located myself upon it. At night in bed I rehearsed the small world's scheme and set challenges: Find the store using backyards only. Imagine a route from the school to my friend's house. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

• It describes the narrator trying to memorize her telephone number.
• It provides examples of what the narrator thinks about at night.
• It gives directions to the narrator's favorite local store.
• It portrays the narrator's relationship with her mother.

The following text is adapted from George Eliot’s 1857 short story “The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton.” Mr. Ely is a clergyman in the town of Milby. By the laity of Milby and its neighbourhood [Mr. Ely] was regarded as a man of quite remarkable powers and learning, who must make a considerable sensation in London pulpits and drawing-rooms on his occasional visit to the metropolis; and by his brother clergy he was regarded as a discreet and agreeable fellow. Mr. Ely never got into a warm discussion; he suggested what might be thought, but rarely said what he thought himself; he never let either men or women see that he was laughing at them, and he never gave any one an opportunity of laughing at him. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

• It shows that Mr. Ely had originally been held in high regard by his friends and then details the events that caused their regard for him to subside.
• It implies that Mr. Ely’s neighbors are more naïve in their estimation of him than people in London are and then explains why his neighbors have been so easily misled.
• It stresses the discrepancy between Mr. Ely’s public and private conduct and then alludes to his motivation for hiding his true personality.
• It presents the favorable opinion of Mr. Ely that other people hold and then describes the behaviors of Mr. Ely that enable him to maintain that favorable opinion.

Catherine L. Cardelús is a researcher who studies canopy soil. Canopy soil is formed in a tree’s branches (its canopy) when dead leaves and other falling things collect. This material breaks down, becoming canopy soil. Canopy soil helps preserve a healthy water cycle (how water moves through the environment) in rainforests. This benefit is one reason Cardelús is interested in the canopy soils in large choibá trees in rainforests in Costa Rica. Which choice best describes the text’s overall structure?

• It explains a disagreement between researchers and how it was resolved.
• It presents an idea and mentions a researcher who disagrees with that idea.
• It compares the sizes of two types of trees over several years.
• It introduces a researcher and gives information about what she researches.

Today composer Scott Joplin is mainly celebrated for his catchy ragtime pieces “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.” However, by overlooking his less famous works, listeners will miss the full range of Joplin’s creativity. For instance, his waltz “Pleasant Moments” and his opera Treemonisha skillfully blend ragtime and classical music. These masterpieces deserve as much fame as Joplin’s biggest hits. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• To describe the similarities and differences between ragtime music and opera
• To argue that more attention should be given to Joplin’s lesser-known works
• To encourage music lovers to listen to music by many different composers
• To explain how Joplin learned to compose and perform ragtime music

The 1967 release of Harold Cruse’s book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual isolated him from almost all other scholars and activists of the American Civil Rights Movement—though many of those thinkers disagreed with each other, he nonetheless found ways to disagree with them all. He thought that activists who believed that Black people such as himself should culturally assimilate were naïve. But he also sharply criticized Black nationalists such as Marcus Garvey who wanted to establish independent, self-contained Black economies and societies, even though Cruse himself identified as a Black nationalist.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

• It describes a direction that Cruse felt the Civil Rights Movement ought to take.
• It indicates that Cruse’s reputation as a persistent antagonist of other scholars is undeserved.
• It describes a controversy that Cruse’s work caused within the Black nationalist movement.
• It helps explain Cruse’s position with respect to the community of civil rights thinkers.

The following text is from John Dryden’s 1697 translation of Virgil’s poem the Aeneid, written in the first century BCE. Queen Dido has just heard the Trojan hero Aeneas recount a sad tale. But anxious cares already seiz’d the queen: She fed within her veins a flame unseen; The hero’s valor, acts, and birth inspire Her soul with love, and fan the secret fire. His words, his looks, imprinted in her heart, Improve the passion, and increase the smart. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• To indicate that Dido is hiding her skepticism of Aeneas’s account
• To emphasize that Dido has been deeply affected by Aeneas’s story
• To imply that Dido engages both emotionally and intellectually with Aeneas
• To suggest that Dido is worried that Aeneas might discover a secret she is keeping from him

The following text is from H.D.’s 1916 poem “Mid-Day.” In the poem, the speaker is on a path in an outdoor setting. A slight wind shakes the seed-pods— my thoughts are spent as the black seeds. My thoughts tear me, I dread their fever. I am scattered in its whirl. I am scattered like the hot shrivelled seeds. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

• It illustrates a change in the natural environment that the speaker implies is responsible for the growing misgivings described in the text.
• It establishes an example of consistency in the natural landscape that the speaker then contrasts with the unpredictability of human emotions.
• It presents an observation of an occurrence in the natural world that the speaker then expands on to convey a sense of a turbulent interior state.
• It evokes the ordinariness of an event in nature to suggest that the critical self-evaluation the speaker engages in is a common pursuit.

The following text is from Louise Erdrich’s 1986 novel The Beet Queen. The narrator discusses her relationship with her young niece, Dot. Celestine, the narrator’s sister-in-law, is Dot’s mother. Dot was as impatient with babyhood as I. She tried at once to grow out of it. Celestine never saw that, because she, and only she, took pleasure in Dot’s helpless softness. Only Celestine was saddened by her daughter’s fierce progress. Day by day, Dot grew stronger. In her shopping-cart stroller she exercised to exhaustion, bouncing for hours to develop her leg muscles. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

• It offers a detail that shows how Dot is growing stronger.
• It expresses hope that Celestine will mature psychologically.
• It explores some of the narrator’s psychological characteristics.
• It indicates how sad Celestine is by describing a behavior she engages in.