Question 121·Easy·Text Structure and Purpose
Local historian Mara Felton argues that personal diaries can illuminate the routines of ordinary people. She suggests that small, practical notes often reveal how communities moved, worked, and rested. In one 1892 entry, a millworker writes, 'The river froze; we walked across at dawn to save the toll,' a detail that shows weather reshaped daily travel. Felton compiles hundreds of such notes to chart patterns that would otherwise remain invisible.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
For function questions (“Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence…”), first restate in your own words what the author is arguing in the surrounding sentences. Then, ask what job the underlined sentence does: does it give an example, define a term, introduce a new idea, provide evidence, or summarize a result? Match that job to the answer choice, and quickly eliminate options that claim things the sentence clearly does not do (like giving numbers when there are none, or introducing a new topic when it obviously continues the same one). Always base your choice on how the sentence connects to the sentences right before and after it.
Hints
Find the main idea of the paragraph
Before focusing on the underlined sentence, ask yourself: What is Felton trying to prove about diaries in this paragraph overall?
Look at how the underlined sentence starts
Notice the phrase “In one 1892 entry, a millworker writes …” What does that tell you about what kind of sentence this is (for example, general statement, definition, example, statistic, or something else)?
Connect the diary entry to Felton’s claim
Think about how the specific diary detail about the frozen river and walking at dawn relates to Felton’s idea that diaries show how communities moved, worked, and rested.
Eliminate mismatched functions
Ask yourself: Does the underlined sentence introduce a totally new topic, give numbers or measurements, or define a special term? Cross out any answer choices that say it does those things.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify Felton’s main claim
First, focus on what Felton is arguing overall: she says that personal diaries can illuminate the routines of ordinary people, and that small, practical notes show how communities moved, worked, and rested. So her main claim is that everyday diary details reveal patterns of daily life.
Examine the underlined sentence in context
Now read the underlined sentence: “In one 1892 entry, a millworker writes, 'The river froze; we walked across at dawn to save the toll,' a detail that shows weather reshaped daily travel.” This is one specific diary entry (from a millworker in 1892) that shows how a frozen river changed how people traveled and saved money. It is not a definition, not a statistic, and not a separate topic; it is a particular story-like detail.
Connect the example to the claim
Ask: How does this sentence relate to Felton’s claim that diaries show routines and movement? The diary note shows people changing their travel route and timing (walking across the frozen river at dawn) because of the weather. That directly shows how a small diary note can reveal patterns in daily travel and behavior—exactly what Felton says diaries can do.
Match this function to an answer choice
Since the underlined sentence is one specific diary entry that illustrates and supports Felton’s general point about the value of diaries for understanding daily routines, the best description of its function is: “It gives an example that supports Felton’s claim about the value of diaries.”