Question 29·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure
Architectural historians have often interpreted the narrow courtyards of several nineteenth-century coastal hospitals as features intended to improve ward ventilation. Recently cataloged expense ledgers show, however, that the hospitals with the narrowest courtyards also purchased the most mechanical fans. Some scholars have taken this association to refute the ventilation interpretation. That conclusion treats a feature intended to assist ventilation as though it must have been intended to make mechanical assistance unnecessary. In architects’ correspondence, courtyards are described as one of several means of improving air exchange, and later notes recommend fans for wards that remained stuffy.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
For a function question, identify the precise claim immediately before the underlined sentence, then determine whether the sentence supports, qualifies, challenges, or exposes an assumption in that claim. Finally, connect that role to the evidence introduced afterward, paying close attention to scope distinctions such as “helps accomplish” versus “accomplishes completely.”
Hints
Identify the referenced conclusion
Determine which claim the phrase “That conclusion” refers to and what assumption would be required for that claim to follow.
Distinguish assistance from replacement
Consider whether a feature can contribute to a goal without completely eliminating the need for another measure serving the same goal.
Connect the later evidence
Ask what role the architects’ correspondence plays after the underlined sentence has limited the inference that can be drawn from the ledgers.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the disputed interpretation
Some historians interpret the courtyards as features intended to improve ventilation, while other scholars argue that the purchase of many fans refutes that interpretation.
Analyze the underlined sentence’s logic
The underlined sentence distinguishes helping with ventilation from making mechanical ventilation unnecessary. The presence of fans may show that the courtyards were insufficient by themselves, but it does not establish that ventilation played no role in their design.
Connect the sentence to what follows
The architects’ correspondence describes the courtyards as one of several ventilation measures. The underlined sentence leaves this more limited interpretation open, allowing the correspondence to support it without denying the ledger evidence.