Question 1·Easy·Text Structure and Purpose
In the early 1900s, many city streets were lit by gas lamps. These lamps had to be lit and extinguished by hand each day. When electric streetlights were introduced, the job of lamplighter slowly disappeared as cities adopted the quicker, more reliable technology.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
For SAT "function of a sentence" questions, first reread the target sentence, then immediately read the sentence before and after it to see how it connects ideas. Ask what type of work the sentence does: definition, example, cause, contrast, added detail, or result. Next, eliminate any answer that introduces ideas not found in the passage (like reasons, measurements, or comparisons the text never mentions). Finally, choose the option that accurately describes the sentence’s role in moving the paragraph from its starting point to its ending point, rather than just repeating what the sentence says in isolation.
Hints
Zoom out to the whole paragraph
Read the sentence before and after the underlined one. Ask yourself: how does the bolded sentence connect the first sentence (about gas lamps) to the last sentence (about electric streetlights and lamplighters)?
Focus on what kind of information it adds
Decide what the underlined sentence is doing: Is it giving a reason for a decision, describing detailed design features, comparing two things, or simply explaining how something was used in daily life?
Test each answer against the actual text
For each choice, ask: Does the passage ever mention this idea? If a choice brings in something not mentioned—like specific reasons cities refused gas lamps, measurements, or brightness levels—be suspicious of it.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the literal meaning of the underlined sentence
Focus on the bolded sentence: "These lamps had to be lit and extinguished by hand each day." This tells us that:
- Gas lamps did not turn on and off automatically.
- A person had to physically light them and put them out every day. This is about the daily work involved in using gas lamps.
Connect the sentence to the rest of the passage
Now look at how this sentence fits with the sentences before and after it:
- First sentence: explains that in the early 1900s, many city streets used gas lamps.
- Underlined sentence: adds a detail about how those gas lamps were operated (they needed daily manual attention).
- Final sentence: explains that when electric streetlights came, the lamplighter job disappeared because cities adopted a quicker, more reliable technology. So the underlined sentence provides a key detail that helps explain why there was a lamplighter job and why the new technology would affect it.
Check each answer against what the passage actually says
Go through the choices:
- One option mentions cities refusing to install gas lamps. The passage never talks about any cities refusing; it says many streets were lit by gas lamps.
- Another option mentions technical specifications. The sentence does not give measurements, designs, or technical details—only how the lamps were used daily.
- Another option talks about brightness. The passage never compares how bright gas lamps and electric lights are.
- The remaining option matches the idea that the sentence describes the everyday manual work gas lighting required, which helps show what changed when electric lights arrived.
Select the function that matches the sentence’s role
Because the underlined sentence shows that gas lamps required someone to light and extinguish them by hand every day, and this sets up why electric streetlights made the lamplighter job unnecessary, the best description of its function is: "It explains the daily labor required by gas lighting that electric lights later eliminated."