Question 83·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure

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Ownership inscriptions in medieval medical books can identify who possessed a volume, but they rarely reveal how that person used it. Wear marks may seem to provide more direct evidence of use. A darkened page corner, however, could result from repeated consultation or simply from the way a book was stored. In studying one herbal, historian Mara Venn therefore considers no isolated mark decisive. Instead, she notes that wear clusters on pages containing antidote recipes, whereas similarly positioned pages without such recipes remain relatively clean. After linking the book through tax records to an apothecary, Venn concludes that it was probably consulted during the preparation of remedies.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

For a function question, identify what the underlined sentence does in relation to both the preceding and following ideas. Pay attention to whether it introduces a claim, qualification, example, or conclusion, and then select the option that captures not only the sentence’s content but also how later details respond to it.

Hints

Hint 1
Examine the contrast
Compare the claim immediately before the underlined sentence with the two possible causes presented in that sentence.
Hint 2
Follow the reasoning forward
Consider why Venn compares several pages rather than relying on one darkened corner.
Hint 3
Separate caution from conclusion
Determine whether the underlined sentence states Venn’s final judgment or explains a problem her method must handle.

Step-by-step

Step 1
Identify the sentence’s immediate role
The preceding sentence suggests that wear marks may reveal how a book was used. The underlined sentence qualifies that idea by explaining that an individual mark could instead result from storage.
Step 2
Connect the sentence to the case study
Because isolated wear is ambiguous, Venn compares multiple pages and finds that wear is concentrated on pages with antidote recipes. She also uses tax records to establish the owner’s occupation.
Step 3
Describe the function precisely
The sentence introduces a limitation that Venn’s pattern-based and contextual analysis is designed to address. Therefore, the first option best describes its function.

Lessons that teach this

SAT Reading: Craft and StructureIntermediateCoreFunction of the underlined sentence: what does this sentence do?

Question 83·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Craft and Structure

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