Text Structure and Purpose

What the SAT tests here

These questions ask why the author wrote the text, what one sentence is doing inside it, or how the text is organized. You are describing the author's moves, not summarizing every detail.

Three question types

• Main purpose: What is the text mainly trying to do? Explain, argue, describe, compare, challenge a view.
• Function: What role does a specific sentence or phrase play? Introduce a claim, give an example, present a contrast, offer an explanation.
• Overall structure: How does the text move from beginning to end?

A reliable method

1. Read for the move, not the facts. After each sentence, ask what it adds: a claim, evidence, a problem, a twist, an answer.
2. Describe the text in your own words in one line, for example: common belief, then evidence that corrects it.
3. Match the verbs. Choices begin with verbs such as explain, argue, criticize, describe. Eliminate any verb that is too strong or too weak for the tone of the text.

Common structures

Structure	Typical signals
Belief, then correction	many people assume, in fact, however
Problem, then solution	the challenge, one approach, to address this
Puzzle, then explanation	surprisingly, researchers suspect, one reason
Claim, then evidence	studies show, for instance, data suggest
Assumption, new observation, revised conclusion	at first, then they noticed, this led them to

Function questions

Look at the sentence before and after the one in question.

• A sentence that starts with for instance usually gives an example of the sentence before it.
• A sentence with surprisingly or yet often introduces a puzzle or contrast that the next sentence explains.
• The last sentence often states the conclusion the rest of the text builds toward.

Common traps

• Choices that are true but too narrow. A detail from one sentence is not the purpose of the whole text.
• Choices that are too extreme. Criticize harshly when the author only questions something.
• Choices that describe a different text. Check every part of the choice against the passage.

Quick summary

• Track what each sentence does.
• Summarize the text as a sequence of moves.
• Match the verb and its strength.
• For function, read the neighbors of the target sentence.