LESSON 35: INFERENCE AND PURPOSE ITEMS
PURPOSE ITEMS
These items ask why the author of a passage mentions some piece of information, or includes a quote
from a person or a study, or uses some particular word or phrase.
Sample Items
• Why does the author mention ________?
• The author refers to ________ to indicate that . . .
• The author quotes ________ in order to show . . .
• The phrase ________ in line ________ is mentioned to illustrate the effect of . . .
Sample Answer Choices
• To strengthen the argument that ________
• To provide an example of ________
• To challenge the idea that ________
• To contradict ________
• To support the proposal to ________
There are usually from one to four purpose questions per Reading section.
EXERCISE 35.1
Focus: Identifying valid inferences based on sentences
Directions: Read each sentence, then mark the one answer choice—(A), (B), or (C)—that is a valid
inference based on that sentence.
1. A metalworker of 3,000 years ago would 3. High cholesterol used to be thought of as a
recognize virtually every step of the problem only for adults.
lost-wax process used to cast titanium for
(A) High cholesterol is no longer a
jet engines.
problem for adults.
(A) Titanium has been forged for thou- (B) Only children have a problem with
sands of years. high cholesterol.
(B) The lost-wax method of casting is old. (C) High cholesterol affects both adults
(C) Metal working has changed very little and children.
in 3,000 years.
4. Alpha Centauri, one of the closest stars to
2. When apple growers talk about new
Earth, is just 4.3 light-years away. It can be
varieties of apples, they don’t mean
seen only from the Southern Hemisphere.
something developed last month, last year,
However, the closest star, other than our
or even in the last decade.
own sun of course, is a tiny red star,
(A) Apple growers haven’t developed any Proxima Centauri, which is not visible
new varieties in recent decades. without a telescope.
(B) Some varieties of apples can be
(A) Proxima Centauri is the closest star to
developed in a short time, but others
the earth.
take a long time.
(B) Alpha Centauri is invisible from Earth
(C) New varieties of apples take many
without a telescope.
years to develop.
(C) Proxima Centauri is closer than 4.3
light-years from the earth.
225 [Link]
SECTION 3: READING
5. Compared with the rest of its brain, the 9. Most fish take on, to a certain degree, the
visual area of a turtle’s brain is compara- coloration of their natural surroundings, so
tively small since turtles, like all other it is not surprising that the fish inhabiting
reptiles, depend on senses other than sight. warm, shallow waters around tropical reefs
are colored all the brilliant tints of the
(A) No reptile uses sight as its primary
rainbow.
sense.
(B) Animals that depend on sight all have (A) Tropical fish are unlike other fish
larger visual areas in their brains than because they take on the coloration of
turtles do. their environment.
(C) The visual areas of other reptile brains (B) Tropical fish are brightly colored
are comparatively smaller than those of because they inhabit warm waters.
turtles. (C) Tropical reefs are brightly colored
environments.
6. Contrary to popular belief, there is no
validity to the stories one hears of initials 10. Although sheepherding is an older and
carved in a tree by a young boy becoming more beloved occupation, shepherds never
elevated high above his head when he visits caught the attention of American filmmak-
the tree as an old man. ers the way cowboys did.
(A) Trees don’t grow the way many (A) There have been more American films
people think they do. about cowboys than about shepherds.
(B) If a child carves initials in a tree, it (B) Films about shepherds were popular
won’t grow. before films about cowboys.
(C) Over time, initials that are carved into (C) Cowboys are generally younger than
a tree will be elevated. shepherds.
7. Illegible handwriting does not indicate 11. The Okefenokee Swamp is a fascinating realm
weakness of character, as even a quick that both confirms and contradicts popular
glance at the penmanship of George notions of a swamp, because along with huge
Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or John cypresses, dangerous quagmires, and dim wa-
F. Kennedy reveals. terways, the Okefenokee has sandy pine is-
lands, sunlit prairies, and clear lakes.
(A) Washington, Roosevelt, and Kennedy
all had handwriting that was difficult (A) People generally feel that swamps are
to read. fascinating places.
(B) A person’s handwriting reveals a lot (B) The Okefenokee has features that most
about that person. people do not associate with swamps.
(C) The author believes that Washington, (C) Most swamps do not have huge
Roosevelt, and Kennedy all had weak cypresses, dangerous quagmires, and
characters. dim waterways.
8. William Faulkner set many of his novels in 12. As an architect, Thomas Jefferson preferred
and around an imaginary town, Jefferson, the Roman style, as seen in the University
Mississippi, which he closely patterned after of Virginia, to the English style favored by
his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. Charles Bullfinch.
(A) William Faulkner wrote many of his (A) The University of Virginia was influ-
novels while living in Jefferson, enced by the Roman style.
Mississippi. (B) Bullfinch was an English architect.
(B) The town of Oxford, Mississippi, exists (C) Jefferson preferred to build in the
only in Faulkner’s novels. English style of architecture.
(C) Faulkner actually wrote about his
hometown but did not use its real
name.
[Link] 226
