Reading & Writing · Craft and Structure
Text Structure and Purpose
Explain what the text or an underlined sentence does in the argument. Track how the ideas connect, then choose a purpose that matches that role rather than merely repeating the topic.
Separate the topic from the job
A passage may discuss a new battery material, but its purpose could be to explain a tradeoff: it stores more energy while wearing out sooner. "Discuss batteries" names the subject without capturing that argument.
For a whole-text purpose, write a verb and its object: explain a tradeoff, challenge an assumption, or describe a finding. Then make sure that summary covers the ending as well as the opening.
Trace the sequence of ideas
Consider: "A survey suggested that gardeners preferred native plants. Yet sales records showed imported varieties outsold natives. The difference may reflect what respondents felt they should say." The structure moves from a reported preference to conflicting evidence and then an explanation.
A choice saying the text gives two agreeing studies misses the contrast. A choice saying it disproves all surveys overstates the conclusion. Name each sentence's contribution before evaluating the full structure.
Read a target sentence with its neighbors
If an underlined sentence gives a concrete example after a broad claim, its role is to illustrate that claim. If it introduces a limitation after a result, its role is to qualify the result. Read both the preceding and following sentences to decide.
A sentence can contain factual information while functioning as a counterexample. Repeating its content does not answer a question asking why the author included it.
Require every part of the purpose choice to fit
A choice such as "criticize an earlier theory and propose a replacement" contains two claims about purpose. If the text questions the theory but proposes no replacement, eliminate that choice.
After a miss, reduce the correct answer to its action words and find the text that supports each. This makes an abstract purpose label concrete and exposes unsupported additions in the distractors.
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Sample text structure and purpose questions
Text Structure and Purpose · Easy
A neighborhood theater surveyed residents about possible weekend performances. The responses were sorted by preferred genre and day of the week, and the theater then used the results to schedule a Saturday mystery play and a Sunday musical.
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Text Structure and Purpose · Easy
Having trouble getting rid of weeds? One surprising solution may be to start eating them. Dandelion greens and purslane are two edible plants that are usually considered weeds in North America. These and other plants like them are sometimes more flavorful than are some plants that people grow as food.
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Text Structure and Purpose · Easy
For decades, researchers assumed that the pale bands found in desert rocks formed only during unusually wet periods. A survey of rock layers in northern Chile, however, found that several bands coincide with volcanic ash deposits, suggesting that some of the markings were created by eruptions rather than by rainfall.
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Practice this skill
- Summarize each sentence's role in a few words.
- For an underlined part, compare it with both neighboring ideas.
- Check every clause of the selected purpose answer against the text.
Print the text structure and purpose worksheet and worked answers.
Then use a mixed practice module to check whether you can choose this method among other question types.
Source and question labels
The bank label for this guide is "Text Structure and Purpose" in Craft and Structure. The worked examples above are written for this guide.