Function questions:

● These questions ask you to figure out why has the author used a particular word,
phrase or sentence in the context.

● What particular ‘function’ this particular word or phrase fulfills.

● What is the purpose of this particular words or phrase.

● Your job will be to identify feelings and opinions expressed in the passage and use that
information to understand the function of the underlined part.

STRATEGY:

● A- Analyse the supporting context. Examine the sentences before and after the underlined
portion.
● P- Paraphrase the underlined sentence before looking at the answer choices.

● I- Identify the function type. Determine whether the sentence is providing an example,
elaborating on a point, contrasting ideas, or introducing a new concept.
● E- Eliminate. Discard options that do not align with your understanding of the underlined
portion.

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. (outdated belief-providing information/elaborating)

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.
 A. "It dismisses as untrue the research presented in the previous sentence."
dismiss anything from the previous sentence. The previous
sentence simply says researchers found a molar. This sentence adds context, not dismissal.

 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."
Yes! This sentence sets up the "before" part — so when we read that Denisovans were found
in a warm place, we understand why that's surprising and why it matters.

Question:

In Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park, an almost imperceptible smile from potential suitor Henry
Crawford causes the protagonist Fanny Price to blush; her embarrassment grows when she
suspects that he is aware of it. This moment—in which Fanny not only infers Henry’s mental state
through his gestures, but also infers that he is drawing inferences about her mental state—illustrates
(example) what literary scholar George Butte calls “deep intersubjectivity,” a technique for
representing interactions between consciousnesses through which Austen’s novels derive much of
their social and psychological drama.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A. It states a claim about Austen’s skill at representing psychological complexity that is reinforced by
an example presented in the following sentence.

B. It advances an interpretation of an Austen protagonist who is contrasted with protagonists from

C. It describes a recurring theme in Austen’s novels that is the focus of a literary scholar’s analysis
summarized in the following sentence.

D. It provides a synopsis of an interaction in an Austen novel that illustrates a literary concept

PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1) That excuse shall not serve you, Madam. As you know from your own experience, and there
are facts that prove it, the daughters of educated men have always done their thinking from
hand to mouth; not under green lamps at study tables in the cloisters of secluded colleges. It
 falls to us now to go on thinking; how are we to spend that sixpence? Think we must. Let us
think in offices; in omnibuses; while we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations and
Lord Mayor’s Shows; let us think . . . in the gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law
Courts; let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals. Let us never cease from thinking
—what is this “civilization” in which we find ourselves? What are these ceremonies and why
should we take part in them?

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A) It asserts the entire point by mentioning an example.

B) It emphasises there is a pervasive need for critical reflection.

C) It establishes that there are no complex political and social issues present.

D) It makes an assertion that the career possibilities for women are enjoyable.

2) This passage is adapted from Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s address to the 1869 Woman Suffrage
Convention in Washington, DC.

People object to the demands of those whom they choose to call the strong-minded, because they
say “the right of suffrage will make the women masculine.” That is just the difficulty in which we are
involved today. Though disfranchised, we have few women in the best sense; we have simply so
many reflections, varieties, and dilutions of the masculine gender. To keep a foothold in society,
woman must be as near to man as possible, and reflect his ideas, opinions, virtues, motives,
prejudices, and vices. She

must respect his statutes, though they strip her of every inalienable right, and conflict with that
higher law written by the finger of God on her own soul. . . .

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

(A) It hints at the praise of women deserve who fight for their long-denied rights.

(B) It identifies as an example for the next sentence in the context.

(C) It makes an assertion that women who enter male-dominated professions are strong.

(D) It provides an idea that condemns people who criticize female suffragists.

3) This passage is adapted from Saki, “The Schartz-Metterklume Method.” Originally published
in 1911.

Then, in the road-way beyond, she saw a horse struggling with a more than ample load, and
a carter of the sort that seemed to bear a sullen hatred against the animal that helps him to
earn a living. Lady Carlotta promptly betook her to the road-way, put rather a different
complexion on the struggle. Only once had she put the doctrine of non-interference into
 practice, when one of its most eloquent exponents had been besieged for nearly three hours
in a small and extremely uncomfortable may-tree by an angry boar-pig, while Lady Carlotta,
on the other side of the fence, had proceeded with the water colour sketch she was engaged
on, and refused to interfere between the boar and his prisoner.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A) It foreshadows the character’s capacity for deception.

B) It illustrates the subtle cruelty in the character’s nature.

C) It provides a humorous insight into the character.

D) It explains a surprising change in her next line of the context.

Rhetorical Synthesis Strategies :

1. Identify the goal- Read the question (carefully)

(THE QUESTIONS WE PRACTICED IN CLASS FOR THE RHETORICAL SYNTHESIS WERE ENOUGH)