Question 21·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Expression of Ideas
An archived playbill dated 1892 has led some historians to assign that year to a theater’s opening. Yet the playbill names an address the company did not occupy until 1901, and municipal records show that construction there was approved only in 1900. Because theater companies sometimes reprinted old programs after moving, the playbill could preserve the date of an 1892 performance even if that copy was produced later; that possibility, however, would not establish that the theater at the printed address was then open. ______ historians should date the opening of that theater to the period after 1900.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Track the scope of each claim before selecting a transition. In difficult transition questions, distinguish a conclusion based on several pieces of evidence from a restatement of the nearest sentence, especially when the passage separates what evidence may suggest from what it can actually establish.
Hints
Distinguish the claims
Consider the difference between evidence of a company’s performance and evidence that a particular building was open.
Use the whole passage
Determine whether the final sentence follows only from the immediately preceding clause or combines that clause with the earlier municipal evidence.
Identify the relationship
Look for a transition that introduces an overall judgment after evidence with different implications has been considered.
Step-by-step Explanation
Separate the two historical claims
The playbill may support the limited claim that the company performed in 1892. It does not necessarily show that the theater at the address printed on the playbill was open then.
Consider all the evidence
The company did not occupy the printed address until 1901, and construction there was not approved until 1900. Those facts provide positive support for a post-1900 opening at that location.
Identify the final sentence’s function
The final sentence reaches an overall judgment after considering both what the playbill may establish and what it cannot establish. “On balance,” precisely signals this weighing of evidence.