DSAT R&W Practice Question-Craft and Structure-Text Structure and Purpose-Easy
DSAT R&W Practice Question-Craft and Structure-Text Structure and Purpose-Easy
DSAT R&W Practice Question-Craft and Structure-Text Structure and Purpose-Easy is part of Craft and Structure : This section evaluates skills in understanding advanced academic vocabulary words from the context they are used in, analyzing an author’s rhetorical (persuasive writing) techniques and purpose, and synthesizing key ideas by making connections between multiple related texts on a topic.
Weightage : 20%
Subtopic: Cross-Text Connections
Question
The following text is from Srimati Svarna Kumari Deviʼs 1894 novel The Fatal Garland (translated by A. Christina Albers in 1910). Shakti is walking near a riverbank that she visited frequently during her childhood.
She crossed the woods she knew so well. The trees seemed to extend their branches like welcoming arms. They greeted her as an old friend. Soon she reached the river-side.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A. It suggests that Shakti feels uncomfortable near the river.
B. It indicates that Shakti has lost her sense of direction in the woods.
C. It emphasizes Shaktiʼs sense of belonging in the landscape.
D. It conveys Shaktiʼs appreciation for her long-term friendships.
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans. C
Correct Answer: C
Rationale
Choice C is the best answer because it most accurately describes how the underlined sentence functions in the text as a whole. The first sentence of the text states that Shakti knows the woods she is walking in well.
The next sentence, which is underlined, emphasizes Shakti’s familiarity with, and sense of security within, the woods by describing how the tree branches are friendly and “welcoming,” as they are depicted as extending
open arms to her. The remainder of the text also shows that Shakti is comfortable and content in the woods by describing her as “an old friend” of the trees. Thus, the function of the underlined portion is to emphasize
Shakti’s sense of belonging in the wooded landscape that she visits.
Choice A is incorrect because the text and underlined portion suggest that Shakti is comfortable, not uncomfortable, in her surroundings: the trees around her are described as welcoming and reassuring. Moreover, the underlined portion discusses Shakti’s feelings in the forest, not the river, since she hasn’t reached the river yet. Choice B is incorrect because the text and underlined portion emphasize Shakti’s familiarity with the woods. The trees are inviting, and she feels like “an old friend” to the woods, so she isn’t lost or confused there. Choice D is incorrect because the third sentence uses the phrase “as an old friend” figuratively in reference to Shakti’s sense of familiarity with the landscape, not in reference to her longstanding friendships with other people, and the text and underlined portion never discuss her feelings about such friendships.
Question
Researchers have found a nearly 164,000-year-old molar from a member of the archaic human species known as Denisovans in a cave in Laos, suggesting that Denisovans lived in a wider range of environments than indicated by earlier evidence. Before the discovery, Denisovans were thought to have lived only at high altitudes in relatively cold climates in what are now Russia and China, but the discovery of the tooth in Laos suggests that they may have lived at low altitudes in relatively warm climates in Southeast Asia as well.
Which choice best states the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A. It dismisses as untrue the research presented in the previous sentence.
B. It defines a term used in the description that follows in the rest of the sentence.
C. It emphasizes the main goal of the research introduced in the previous sentence.
D. It provides context that clarifies the significance of the information that follows in the rest of the sentence.
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans. D
Correct Answer: D
Rationale
Choice D is the best answer. The text describes how a new discovery expands our understanding of Denisovans. The underlined portion describes what we used to believe about Denisovans, which helps the
reader understand the significance of the discovery of the molar: it suggests that they lived in more places than we’d previously thought.
Choice A is incorrect. The underlined portion doesn’t do this. Instead, it explains what we used to believe about Denisovans before the discovery—it doesn’t dismiss the new discovery as false. Choice B is incorrect. The underlined portion doesn’t do this. No term is defined here. Choice C is incorrect. The underlined portion doesn’t do this. The text never tells us what the “goal” of the research was, just what its discovery was.