What this lesson covers
- The role slot: which sentence does each choice actually describe
- Five job verbs: sets up, undermines, concedes, illustrates, qualifies
- Why paraphrasing the sentence is not naming its job
- A practice question with the clock running
Questions worked in the video
- 0:17Five-sentence text on canal archaeology; sentence 3 underlined. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
- 2:19Five-sentence text on coral transplanting; sentence 3 underlined. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
Worked examples
The questions the video works, written out: the setup, each step, the answer and the trap.
0:17Example 1
(1) For decades the standard account held that the city's canals were dug for irrigation. (2) The canals climb for part of their length, which irrigation would not require. (3) Excavations in 2019 found no field boundaries within a kilometre of the canals. (4) One archaeologist has argued instead that the canals moved goods, not water. (5) That account still leaves the climbing segments unexplained. Sentence 3 is underlined. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole? A) It presents evidence that undermines the standard account. B) It states the standard account that the text goes on to question. C) It introduces the alternative explanation. D) It concedes a problem the alternative has not solved.
- Read all five sentences first, because the wrong answers live in the other four. Then name the job of sentence 3 in one verb before looking at the choices. Sentence 1 is the old account; sentence 3 reports a dig that found no fields near the canals. Irrigation canals with no fields nearby: the sentence undermines.
- Now slot each choice onto the sentence it actually describes. B, states the standard account: that is sentence 1. Accurate, wrong sentence.
- C, introduces the alternative explanation: that is sentence 4, the archaeologist's goods-not-water argument. Accurate, wrong sentence.
- D, concedes a problem the alternative has not solved: that is sentence 5, the unexplained climbing segments. Accurate, wrong sentence.
- A, presents evidence that undermines the standard account: excavation evidence, aimed at the irrigation story. That is sentence 3, and it uses your verb.
Answer: A
A is the only choice that describes the underlined line rather than a neighbour; the 2019 dig is evidence, and its effect on the irrigation account is to undermine it. Every distractor is a true statement about a different numbered sentence, which is why each feels right when read on its own. B is the commonest pick, because a student who has not named the job matches the choice to the passage as a whole instead of to sentence 3.
2:19Example 2
(1) Restoration groups often transplant coral fragments grown in nurseries. (2) Transplanted fragments survive at high rates through their first year. (3) Survival in that first year, however, says little about whether a colony will ever reproduce. (4) One review found that fewer than one in five transplanted colonies had spawned within five years. (5) Even so, transplanting remains the fastest way to return coral cover to a stripped reef. Sentence 3 is underlined. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole? A) It reports the finding that supports the writer's closing judgement. B) It qualifies the significance of the result reported just before it. C) It introduces the technique the text goes on to evaluate. D) It quantifies the limitation the text has described.
- Name the job first. Sentence 2 reports a good result, high first-year survival. Sentence 3 opens with however and says that result tells you little about reproduction. It does not deny the result; it limits what the result means. One verb: qualifies.
- C, introduces the technique: that is sentence 1, transplanting nursery-grown fragments.
- D, quantifies the limitation: that is sentence 4, fewer than one in five colonies spawned. Sentence 3 raises the limitation; sentence 4 puts a number on it.
- A, reports the finding that supports the closing judgement: the closing judgement is sentence 5, and nothing in sentence 3 supports it; sentence 3 pulls against the good news.
- B, qualifies the significance of the result reported just before it: the result is sentence 2's survival rate, and sentence 3 narrows what it proves. Your verb, your sentence.
Answer: B
B names exactly what sentence 3 does to sentence 2: however plus says little about is the shape of a qualification. The trap is D, because sentences 3 and 4 are about the same limitation, and a student who reads them as one unit credits the number in sentence 4 to the underlined line. C and A are true of sentences 1 and 5.
Chapters
- 0:04Every wrong answer is true
- 0:17The setup
- 0:49Whose sentence is that
- 1:45Say the job first
- 2:19Your turn
- 2:53Three ways this goes wrong
- 3:27Name the job, then match the sentence
Lesson transcript
The narration of the video, word for word, under its chapter headings.
0:17The setup
Function questions ask what one sentence is doing, not what the whole text is about. The underlined sentence here is the third one. Read all five first, because the wrong answers live in the other four.
0:49Whose sentence is that
Every distractor here is a true statement about a different sentence. B describes sentence one, the standard account. C describes sentence four, the new explanation. D describes sentence five, the concession. Each one is accurate, and each one is the wrong sentence. Only A describes the underlined line: excavation evidence that undermines the old account.
1:45Say the job first
This is why paraphrasing the sentence is not enough. Say the job out loud before you look at the choices. Sets up. Undermines. Concedes. Illustrates. Qualifies. One verb. Then find the choice that uses your verb about your sentence.
2:19Your turn
Your turn. Coral transplants. What is the underlined sentence doing? Ten seconds. B. It qualifies the result reported just before it. A and D are true of other lines.
2:53Three ways this goes wrong
Three ways this goes wrong. Picking a choice that is true of the whole text instead of the one sentence. Picking a choice that is true of a neighbouring sentence. And picking the choice that just repeats the sentence instead of naming its job.
3:27Name the job, then match the sentence
Name the job. Then match the sentence.
Read the written version: the Text Structure and Purpose strategy guide, then try 25 hard Text Structure and Purpose questions with full explanations. Both are free, no account needed.