Text structure and purpose

Two closely related questions: what is the main purpose of the text? and what is the function of the underlined sentence? Both ask what the writing does, not what it says.

#Purpose vs. content

This is the distinction the whole question type turns on, and it's why summarising the passage in your head produces wrong answers.

• Content: "The passage is about a study of octopus camouflage."
• Purpose: "The passage introduces a finding that complicates an existing explanation."

The answer choices are written in the second register. They start with verbs: to illustrate, to qualify, to challenge, to introduce, to summarise, to provide context for. So predict in that register too — before you look, finish the sentence "This text exists in order to ______."

#Function questions

When a specific sentence is underlined, ask: what would be lost if you deleted it?

Almost every underlined sentence is doing one of a small number of jobs:

• Stating the claim the rest supports.
• Giving an example of a claim made elsewhere.
• Introducing a complication — the however sentence.
• Providing background the reader needs before the real point.
• Drawing the conclusion from what came before.
• Anticipating an objection.

Reading the sentence before and the sentence after the underlined one is usually more informative than re-reading the underlined one. Function is defined by neighbours.

#The traps

• Too big. "To explain the process of photosynthesis" for a passage that mentions photosynthesis in one clause. If the choice describes more than the text actually does, it's out.
• True but not the point. The choice accurately describes something in the passage — just not what the passage is for. This is the hardest trap because you can point to the words.
• Right verb, wrong object. "To challenge a hypothesis" when the text challenges a method. Read the whole choice; the noun at the end is where these are decided.

#A test that resolves close pairs

If two choices survive, ask which one would still be true if you deleted the first half of the passage. If a choice only describes the opening, it's describing a part, and purpose questions are about the whole.