Question 102·Hard·Text Structure and Purpose
The following text is adapted from a contemporary civic essay about restoring a town’s public clock.
At the budget meeting, the clock tower became a spreadsheet: kilowatt-hours tallied, replacement gears priced, a digital display proposed as cheaper and easier to maintain. Several people asked why a town that carries the time in its pockets should keep a mechanism that drifts and needs winding. A public clock is not a stopwatch for commuters; it is a ritual we agree to keep together. When we stepped outside after the vote, a handful of volunteers stayed behind to scrape rust from the railings. A retired machinist offered to rebalance the weights; a student promised to design flyers for weekend work crews. On the first day the bell rang again at noon, the hardware store owner, the bus driver, and the children spilling from the library all looked up at once, as if answering a call none of us had spoken.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
For function-of-a-sentence questions, read a few lines before and after the targeted sentence to track how the author’s focus shifts. Decide whether the sentence contrasts with what came before, states a central claim, or sets up the evidence that follows. Then choose the option that best captures that structural role, eliminating choices that misstate the passage’s direction (e.g., returning to cost analysis, focusing on technical details, or conceding defeat).
Hints
Check what comes right before
Reread the sentences about the budget meeting just before the underlined sentence. What is the town focusing on there—what kinds of concerns are being discussed?
Pay attention to the contrast word "not"
In the underlined sentence, the author says what the clock is not and then what it is. How does that contrast change the way we are supposed to think about the clock?
Look at what happens afterward
After the underlined sentence, what kinds of actions do people take, and what does their shared reaction to the bell suggest about how they now view the clock?
Eliminate options that don’t match the passage’s focus
Ask yourself: Is the underlined sentence mainly about schedules and practicality, a neutral definition, or giving up on the clock—or is it doing something else with the idea of the clock?
Step-by-step Explanation
Place the sentence in context
First, look at what comes before the underlined sentence. The budget meeting description focuses on numbers and practicality: energy costs, replacement parts, and a cheaper digital display. People question why the town should keep an old, drifting, high-maintenance clock. This sets up a focus on efficiency and cost.
See what changes at the underlined sentence
Now read the underlined sentence: "A public clock is not a stopwatch for commuters; it is a ritual we agree to keep together." This sentence clearly contrasts with the earlier cost-and-efficiency thinking. It says what the clock is not (a stopwatch for commuters) and what it is (a shared ritual), shifting from a practical, economic view to a symbolic, communal one.
Connect the underlined sentence to what follows
Next, look at what happens after the underlined sentence. People volunteer to scrape rust, rebalance the weights, design flyers, and organize work crews. When the bell rings again, many townspeople look up at once, “as if answering a call.” These are all communal actions and shared responses, not financial calculations. They act like people who see the clock as part of a shared ritual.
Match this role to the best answer choice
The sentence functions as a turning point that redefines the clock’s purpose from mere timekeeping efficiency to shared community meaning, and this reframing explains the collective volunteer work and shared reaction described in the rest of the passage. The correct answer is: It reframes the clock’s purpose from efficiency to shared meaning, setting up the communal actions described afterward.