Question 167·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure
At an ancient Mesopotamian port, conversion tablets listed equivalences among several cities' units of weight. Although sometimes treated as steps toward a universal measure, the tablets prescribed no preferred unit, and scribes added new local measures to later versions. Their use in commerce therefore _____ the persistence of multiple standards.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For a words-in-context question, identify the exact relationship established by the surrounding evidence before comparing the choices. Pay particular attention to whether the passage describes causation, timing, concealment, or logical dependence; then choose the word that expresses that relationship without adding an unsupported claim.
Hints
Examine the contrast
The tablets are presented as tools for translating among local measures, not as rules imposing one universal measure.
Separate condition from cause
Consider whether the text says that the tablets made local standards persist or that the tablets functioned in a setting where those standards were already persisting.
Focus on the later versions
Ask what must have remained true if scribes continued adding local measures to the tablets.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the tablets did
The tablets gave equivalences among local units but did not designate any unit as preferred. Later versions even incorporated additional local measures.
Determine the logical relationship
This evidence shows that merchants continued to encounter multiple standards. It does not establish that the tablets caused those standards to persist; rather, the tablets were useful because the standards persisted.
Choose the precise word
"Presupposes" means takes something as an existing condition. It precisely describes the relationship between the tablets' commercial use and the persistence of multiple standards.