A sentence function question tests what an underlined sentence does, not only what it says. Read it with the sentences around it, tracking the claims and evidence. If the text weighs competing interpretations, ask whose reasoning the sentence addresses. Then name its job and what it connects to in your own words. Check each part of a choice, because the right job tied to the wrong claim is still wrong.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the sentence immediately before the underline and identify the conclusion the author is responding to.
- Hint 2
Compare the intended purpose in the opening sentence with the purpose described in the underline. What difference between those purposes is the author pointing out?
- Hint 3
Connect the underline to the final sentence. What does the architects’ correspondence add to the discussion about the courtyards’ intended role?
Step-by-step
Trace the reasoning, then the support
Step 1Trace the disputed conclusion
The opening sentence says the courtyards were intended to improve ward ventilation, giving us the interpretation to track in this function question. What does That conclusion refer to? It points back to the scholars’ claim that fan purchases refute that interpretation. The underline responds to the scholars’ rejection, so let's work out what it challenges.
- Step 2
Unpack the unstated idea
What unstated idea does the scholars’ conclusion depend on? The underline contrasts a feature intended to assist ventilation with an intention to make mechanical assistance unnecessary. A courtyard could help air move while some wards still need fans, so fan purchases alone don't rule out the first purpose. To reject it on this evidence, the scholars have to treat helping as doing the entire job: that's the assumption, the unstated idea their conclusion needs.
- Step 3
Read the later support
The final sentence turns to the architects’ own account. What role does it give the courtyards? They're described as one of several means of improving air exchange, and later notes recommend fans for wards that remained stuffy. So the correspondence supports an intention to help, not to replace every other aid.
- Step 4
Check every part of the choice
It identifies an assumption names the underline’s job, while for the correspondence to support names its connection to the next sentence. Does a narrower version fit too? It allows courtyards to help without making fans unnecessary, so the choice captures the criticism and the view still supported. Choice D.