Question 14·Medium·Text Structure and Purpose
The following text is from a contemporary memoir.
By July my father had turned our Saturday errands into geology lessons. At the hardware store he pointed out the thin seam of quartz in the cracked stepping-stone by the door. At the grocery, he tapped the curb and said it was granite hauled from a quarry two towns over. I used to drag my feet, flattening my voice into a long sigh: rocks were just rocks. Then, one blistering afternoon, as we crossed the empty lot, I saw a small black stone glinting like a burnt plum. It was pocked with tiny holes. “Vesicles,” he would say; I heard the word in my head before he said it aloud. I picked it up and turned it in my hand. “Basalt,” I said, and my father, who rarely stopped talking once he began, was quiet for a breath, then smiled and took the bags.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
For main-purpose questions, first identify the type of passage (story, argument, explanation) and then track how it begins and ends to see what changes or stays constant. Summarize the passage in your own words in one short sentence, then eliminate any answer that introduces new topics, overemphasizes a small detail, or misrepresents the tone (for example, calling something an “argument” when the passage just tells a story). Finally, choose the answer that best matches the overall arc and tone of the entire passage, not just one line or example.
Hints
Look at the beginning and the end
Reread the first 2–3 sentences and the last 2–3 sentences. Ask yourself: how is the narrator’s attitude or behavior different at the end compared with the beginning?
Identify the main type of writing
Decide whether the passage is mainly telling a personal story, arguing a point, or explaining a scientific concept. That will quickly rule out some choices.
Check for added ideas
Scan the answer choices for words or ideas that don’t appear in the passage (like anything about school). Be cautious about picking an answer that introduces new topics.
Consider the tone toward the father
Is the narrator’s tone toward her father mostly negative, neutral, or positive by the end? Use that to judge whether an answer that sounds critical really matches the passage.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what kind of writing this is
The passage is a memoir-style narrative, told in the first person. It describes a small scene with the narrator and her father during Saturday errands, not a formal argument or a science explanation. This tells you that the main purpose is probably about a personal experience or relationship, not proving a point or teaching science directly.
Track what happens from beginning to end
Look at the beginning:
- The father “turned our Saturday errands into geology lessons.”
- The narrator “used to drag my feet” and sigh, saying “rocks were just rocks.”
Look at the end:
- The narrator spots a special stone on her own.
- She thinks the word “vesicles” in her head before her father says it.
- She correctly identifies the rock as “Basalt.”
- Her father is “quiet for a breath, then smiled.”
There is a clear change: the narrator goes from bored and dismissive to noticing rocks and using geology terms herself.
Decide what that change is mainly about
Ask: What is the most important idea that this change illustrates?
- It is not about school vs. outdoors; school is never mentioned.
- It is not mainly a science lesson about basalt; the rock’s detailed properties are not explained.
- The story centers on how the narrator’s attitude and behavior shift in relation to her father’s constant geology talk.
She starts doing something similar to what her father has been doing all along—paying attention to rocks and naming them—showing an important shift in perspective and connection between them.
Match that central idea to the best answer choice
Now compare each option to the passage’s main arc:
- The passage does not argue about the best way to learn geology, so any answer about “arguing” or “best learned outside of school” does not fit.
- It also does not give a detailed scientific explanation of basalt; basalt appears mainly as part of the story.
- The tone is warm by the end, not mainly critical of the father.
The only choice that matches the narrative of the narrator’s changed outlook and behavior—moving from “rocks were just rocks” to noticing and naming them the way her father does—is A) To show how the narrator begins to adopt her father’s way of seeing ordinary objects.