Question 123·Hard·Text Structure and Purpose
The following text is from a contemporary essay by a museum director.
The museum once measured success by the thud of ticket stubs. After a few years of listening to visitors, we understood that numbers could grow while the rooms still felt unwelcoming. Hospitality, we realized, is not a slogan but a chain of small, specific decisions. We moved benches to the first gallery, translated the labels that visitors most often photographed, reopened the side entrance so parents with strollers wouldn’t have to wrestle the steps, and asked docents to wait one breath longer before offering help. Attendance did not surge; the thank-you notes did.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
For questions about a sentence’s function, first bracket the sentence and read the one or two sentences before and after it to see how ideas flow. Ask, “Is this sentence introducing a main idea, providing an example, giving a result, adding contrast, or summarizing?” Then, before looking closely at the choices, phrase its role in your own simple words (e.g., “big idea, then examples”). Finally, eliminate any answer choice that describes a different structure (like a counterargument, background, or step-by-step plan) than what you see in the paragraph’s actual flow.
Hints
Look at what comes right after the underlined sentence
Read carefully from “Hospitality, we realized…” through the list of things the museum did. Ask yourself: How do the later sentences relate to that underlined idea?
Classify the type of sentence
Is the underlined sentence giving a specific example, a broad idea, a result, or something like a plan or announcement? Decide what kind of statement it is before you look at the answer choices.
Check for contrasts or arguments
Does the underlined sentence argue against what came before, provide background, or introduce a sequence of steps? Or does it do something else that connects to the examples that follow?
Match role, not words
Don’t get distracted by repeated words like “hospitality.” Focus on the role the sentence plays in the paragraph’s structure, then pick the option that describes that role.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the question is asking
The question asks about the function of the underlined sentence in the paragraph. That means you are not being asked what the sentence means, but how it works in relation to the sentences before and after it.
So you need to:
- Look at the sentences before the underlined part.
- Look at the sentences after it.
- Decide what role the underlined sentence plays in connecting them.
Summarize the paragraph around the underlined sentence
Read the paragraph in order and put it in your own words:
- First two sentences: The museum used to measure success by ticket sales, but then realized that high numbers didn’t guarantee a welcoming space.
- Underlined sentence: “Hospitality, we realized, is not a slogan but a chain of small, specific decisions.” This is a broad idea about what “hospitality” really consists of.
- Next sentences: The author lists several concrete changes: moved benches, translated labels, reopened a side entrance, asked docents to wait longer.
- Final sentence: Attendance didn’t jump, but thank-you notes did, showing the impact of those changes.
Notice that the underlined sentence sits right between the problem (unwelcoming rooms) and the list of specific actions.
Decide what the underlined sentence is doing
Ask: What is the relationship between the underlined sentence and the examples that follow?
- The underlined sentence talks about “a chain of small, specific decisions.”
- The next sentences are those “small, specific decisions”: benches, labels, entrance, docents.
So the structure is:
- Broad idea about hospitality →
- Followed by specific examples that illustrate that idea.
That means the underlined sentence is not itself an example; it’s the main idea that the later examples support.
Match this role to the answer choices
Now compare your understanding with each option:
- One choice describes a sentence that gives a broad idea or principle that later sentences support with specific examples.
- Another mentions a counterargument, but nothing in the underlined sentence argues against the opening; it continues the same concern about welcoming spaces.
- Another claims the point is to raise attendance, but the underlined sentence defines hospitality as specific decisions, and the final sentence emphasizes thank-you notes rather than increased attendance.
- Another describes a step‑by‑step “initiative,” but the listed actions are examples of decisions, not a formally announced program.
The only option that accurately matches the pattern “general idea followed by specific illustrations” is:
It articulates a general principle that the rest of the paragraph illustrates with concrete examples.