Question 69·Hard·Text Structure and Purpose
Many travel blogs portray the ancient Silk Road as an uninterrupted highway of commerce running straight from imperial China to the Mediterranean world. Historian Lila Ahmed contends that this notion oversimplifies the reality. She points out that what modern scholars group under the label “Silk Road” was in fact a shifting lattice of regional markets—its traffic rising or falling with the collapse of dynasties, the redirection of rivers, or the arrival of epidemics, rather than proceeding along a single continuous route. For Ahmed, acknowledging this instability is crucial for grasping how ideas and goods actually moved across Eurasia.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
For SAT function-of-a-part questions, first identify the main claim or contrast in the surrounding sentences, then ask what the target sentence is doing in that context: giving an example, adding evidence, qualifying, opposing, or summarizing. Paraphrase its role in your own words, then match that paraphrase to the answer choices, eliminating options that describe a different kind of move (like “opposing view” or “summary”) even if they mention the same topic words; always focus on the sentence’s job in the argument, not just its content.
Hints
Locate the key contrast in the passage
Look at how the first sentence describes the Silk Road and then how Ahmed responds in the next sentence. How does the underlined portion relate to that disagreement?
Ask what kind of sentence this is
Is the underlined sentence introducing a new opposing view, pointing out a flaw in Ahmed’s own argument, summarizing everything, or giving specific explanation and detail?
Pay attention to the examples listed
Why does the author mention dynasties collapsing, rivers redirecting, and epidemics? How do those details affect the image of an "uninterrupted highway of commerce"?
Align description with answer choices
Once you’ve decided what the underlined portion is doing, eliminate choices that describe a different type of move (like admitting a limitation or restating a conclusion). Which option matches the role you identified?
Step-by-step Explanation
Clarify the overall structure of the passage
First, notice how the passage is organized:
- Sentence 1 describes how many travel blogs portray the Silk Road: "an uninterrupted highway of commerce" running straight across Eurasia.
- Sentence 2 introduces Historian Lila Ahmed's view: she says this idea "oversimplifies" reality.
- The underlined portion comes immediately after that claim.
So the underlined part is likely explaining or backing up Ahmed's claim that the popular picture is too simple.
Understand what the underlined portion actually says
Read the underlined sentence carefully: Ahmed says what we call the "Silk Road" was really a shifting lattice of regional markets, and that its traffic changed with events like dynasty collapses, river changes, and epidemics, instead of following one stable route.
So this sentence:
- Contrasts a "shifting lattice" with the earlier "uninterrupted highway" image.
- Gives specific factors (political, environmental, health-related) that made the routes unstable.
- Adds detail about the true, complex nature of the Silk Road.
Decide the function of the underlined portion
Ask: What is the author doing with this sentence in the argument?
- It is not introducing a new viewpoint that disagrees with Ahmed; it is Ahmed's viewpoint, explained.
- It is not saying Ahmed left something out; it is adding detail, not pointing to a gap.
- It is not a summary of the whole passage; it is a specific description, not a broad restatement.
- It does give concrete, descriptive support that shows how the real Silk Road was complex and unstable, which directly undercuts the earlier simplistic "uninterrupted highway" idea.
So its role is to support and illustrate Ahmed’s claim by challenging the oversimplified depiction.
Match your understanding to the answer choices
Now compare that function to the options:
- The underlined portion explains Ahmed’s view in detail and shows why the "uninterrupted highway" portrayal is misleading.
- It uses specific examples (dynasties, rivers, epidemics) to show that the Silk Road was a changing network, not a single, steady road.
The choice that best describes this role is: It provides detailed support that challenges the oversimplified depiction of the Silk Road presented earlier in the passage.