Text Structure and Purpose

You get one short paragraph, sometimes a poem or a piece of a story, and one of these questions. Read the question first.

Purpose and function choices start with “To” or “It.” A few function questions point to a sentence by number, like “the second sentence,” instead of underlining it.

Ecologists assumed that few frogs lived on the dry slopes above one canyon, since frogs lose water through their skin. However, recorders left on the slopes for a month picked up frog calls nearly every night. The team suspects that the frogs shelter in damp cracks in the rock, though no one has looked inside the cracks yet.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• A. To describe the frog calls recorded on the slopes above a canyon
• B. To present a finding that went against what ecologists had assumed about the slopes
• C. To explain how frogs survive on dry slopes by sheltering in cracks in the rock
• D. To compare the frogs on the slopes with frogs that live near water

1. Name what the question asks about. “Main purpose” means the whole passage. A function question means only the underlined words.

2. Cover the choices and read to the end.

3. Give each sentence a job in a few words. Here: “old belief and why,” “finding against it,” “unchecked guess.”

4. Find the turn. “However” splits this passage into what ecologists assumed and what the recorders found. Your answer has to cover both sides.

5. Say the answer yourself. “It shows a finding that went against what ecologists thought.”

6. Check each choice from its last words back, and name the word that rules it out.

   • A covers only the sentence after “however.” The old belief gets no job, so it's too small.
   • C ends “by sheltering in cracks in the rock.” The team only “suspects” that, and no one has looked, so the passage can't explain how the frogs survive.
   • D's verb is “compare,” but the passage never sets two groups of frogs side by side.
   • B covers both sides of the turn and goes no further than the passage.

   If you can't name the word that rules a choice out, check that choice again.

“However,” “but,” “yet,” “still,” and “though” mark a turn. Near the end, “because,” “thus,” or “one such” can also change what the sentences before it were doing.

“The weavers' guild kept careful records of its prices and its members. It kept no record of its designs, though, because each pattern was a family secret.”

Until “though,” this reads like a list of what the guild wrote down. The end shows it's about one missing record and why, so the purpose is “To explain why the guild's books leave out its designs.”

Ecologists assumed that few frogs lived on the dry slopes above one canyon, since frogs lose water through their skin. However, recorders left on the slopes for a month picked up frog calls nearly every night. The team suspects that the frogs shelter in damp cracks in the rock, though no one has looked inside the cracks yet.

Say the bold sentence is underlined. Reread it with one sentence on each side, and find the word that joins them, such as “however,” “for example,” “one such,” “therefore,” or a colonThe mark : which follows a complete sentence and introduces what comes next.. That word usually names the job. Here “however” says the sentence goes against the belief before it, so your answer is “It presents a finding that goes against the assumption in the first sentence.”

If only “though no one has looked inside the cracks yet” is underlined, ask what those words do in their own sentence. They mark the team's idea as unchecked. “It offers a possible explanation for the calls” describes the whole sentence, which is more than was underlined.

“Ecologists assumed that few frogs lived on the dry slopes ... However, recorders ... picked up frog calls nearly every night. The team suspects that the frogs shelter in damp cracks ... though no one has looked inside the cracks yet.”

Don't try to say a whole answer sentence first. Hold your list of jobs (“old belief and why, finding against it, unchecked guess”) and go to the choices.

• It states an assumption, reports an observation against it, and offers an untested explanation.
• It states an assumption, reports an observation against it, and explains how the conflict was settled.
• It states an assumption, reports an observation against it, and calls for a study of the frogs.
• It states an assumption, reports an observation that supports it, and offers an explanation.

All four open the same way.

The choice ending in a call for a study fails the same way. Of the two left, the last says the observation “supports” the assumption, which is backward, so the first is the answer.

The choices name the moves in general words like “an observation,” so translate each one back into your list. “An observation against it” is your “finding against it.” You may end up crossing off three choices without finding one that sounds like you.

If a long sentence buries its main point, find who or what does what. In “The canal, dug by hand over nine years and lined with stone from the hills, still carries water to every farm in the valley,” that's “The canal still carries water.” Then read the rest back in. Reading dense and technical passages shows how.

A passage with no story, just ideas, still has jobs to label, like “states a view” or “adds a limit.” If a choice is built on the one concrete thing the passage mentions, check what that thing's sentence does.

Put a “not” or a “may” into plain words before you name its job.

A choice that reads the first as “the coastal finding is in doubt,” or the second as “will certainly fail to make up for the losses,” has changed what the passage says.

Say plainly what each line describes, then ask what the details add up to. Poetry and Literature passages cover the reading.

“Mara kept one hand on the wheel and listened for the bell on the far shore. The fog sat on the water like a held breath.”

“The engine's roar was a storm beneath her feet.”

A story passage may have an introduction above it, like “Mara, a ferry pilot, is crossing a river at dawn in the early 1900s.”

“Ecologists assumed that few frogs lived on the dry slopes above one canyon ... The team suspects that the frogs shelter in damp cracks in the rock, though no one has looked inside the cracks yet.”

Sometimes your answer fits all four choices, because each one says something like “presents a finding and explains it.” Then compare only the words where they differ, in this order: how the choice ends, its verb, how much it covers, and who does what to whom.

Ask these about the verb.

• Does the passage report something or take a side? “Describes,” “presents,” “discusses,” and “notes” only report. “Argues,” “criticizes,” and “challenges” take a side. A passage can report a disagreement without joining it.
• Does it show that something might be true, or that it is true? “Suggests” and “speculates” leave it open, while “proves” and “demonstrates” say it's settled.
• Does it give an example or a reason? “Illustrates” gives a case of a claim. “Explains” says why or how.
• Does it raise doubts or settle them? “Questions” raises doubts about an idea, and “refutes” shows it's wrong.
• Does it add to a point already made? That's “elaborates,” while “introduces” starts something new.

“Halvorsen's essay was written in reply to Ortiz's review.”

“Warming has pushed the pika uphill. The marmot has moved up the same slopes.”

Say the second sentence is underlined.

It adds one more animal that has responded to warming the same way.

“The team suspects that the frogs shelter in damp cracks in the rock, though no one has looked inside the cracks yet.”

An added motive, recommendation, person, time, or change can be true in the world and still be missing from this paragraph.

• A science passage: is anyone on the other side, or is one study just reported?
• A careful “may” or “likely” at the end: does anyone ask for more research, or is the finding just stated with care?
• One person's work: does anyone shape someone else, or does the passage just describe what the person did?
• Two times: are then and now set against each other, or only both mentioned?
• A story: is there a conflict or a change, or only a place, a routine, or a mood?
• A poem: do the last lines turn to the speakerThe person speaking in a poem, who isn’t necessarily the poet.Read the lesson's feelings, or stay with the image?

The choices often use words the passage doesn't explain. The Reading and Writing guide covers concedes, refutes, qualifies, underscores, elaborates, illustrates, and attributes.

Work through the three examples with the six steps, then try five more.