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FUNCTIONS
 TYPES OF
FUNCTION
TYPES OF FUNCTION QUESTIONS:
Function Questions:
Function Questions can ask about either a small section of a
passage like punctuation, word, set of lines, paragraph or the
passage as a whole.
Function Questions are phrased in the
following ways:
• The main purpose of the second paragraph
(line x-y) is to...
• The quotation/phrase, etc. in lines x-y
primarily serves to...
• The author makes the comparison in lines x-
y in order to...
Their answers fall into the following two categories:
1. Those that can only be answered by looking at the specific
wording in the lines provided in the question. In such cases,
the lines will typically contain punctuation, phrasing, or an
important transition that points to a particular answer.
2. Those that cannot be obtained by looking at the lines
provided in the question but that instead depend on
contextual information.
2nd type of question:
 Line references tell where the information in question is located as
they do not tell its relationship to anything else in the passage.
 The information necessary to obtain the answer will often be
either before the lines(s) referred to in the question, or, less
frequently, after.
 Be prepared to read a sentence or two before and after the lines
provided, then focus on the appropriate section as necessary.
Important:

 If the lines given in the question are relatively close to the

beginning of a paragraph, begin reading from there.

 If the lines are in the middle of a paragraph, especially a

long paragraph, back up a sentence or couple of sentences

as necessary.
FUNCTIONS OF KEY
WORDS AND
PUNCTUATION
FUNCTIONS OF KEY WORDS AND PUNCTUATION:
Continuers Contradictors

Continue/Support Define Contrast

And That is/That is to say But
Also Properly speaking However
In addition Colon Yet
Furthermore Dash Still
Moreover Parentheses (Al)though
As well as On the contrary
First/In the first place Speculate On the other hand
Next If In contrast
Then May Whereas
Finally Maybe Despite
For example Might In spite of
For instance Could Nevertheless
One reason/ another Perhaps Instead
reason It is possible Rather than
Misguided
False
FUNCTIONS OF KEY WORDS AND PUNCTUATION:
Continuers Contradictors

Explain Emphasize Question, Imply skepticism

Because Indeed But is it really true….?
The reason is In fact Question mark
The answer is Let me be clear Quotation marks
Explanation Italics
That is Capital letters Qualify
Colon Exclamation point Dashes
Dash Repetition (of a word, phrase) Parentheses
Draw a conclusion
Indicate Importance
So
Important
Consequently
Significant
Therefore
Essential
Thus
Fundamental
Thereby
Central
As a result
Key
The point/goal is
Example:
To drivers, the color red means stop, but on the map it tells traffic engineers
to leap into action. Traffic control centers like this one-a room cluttered
with computer terminals and live video feeds of urban intersections -
represent the brain of a traffic system.

A. Emphasize the importance of obeying traffic signals.

B. Indicate that drivers and traffic engineers can react to
information in different ways.
C. Explain why traffic engineers are more active than other
workers.
D. Point out a striking feature of the map in Boston City Hall.

Option C ‘Explain why traffic engineers are more

active than other workers’ is the correct answer.
“VAGUE” ANSWERS
“VAGUE” ANSWERS:
You will see: Move from concrete to abstract
A. Justify an approach in two different ways:
i. Through a function word
B. Qualify a statement
(explain or refute)
C. Promote a theory ii. By rephrasing the content
D. Refute a claim od the passage in a more
general way.
Note:
A long line reference does not necessarily mean that all of the
lines are important. The longer the line reference, the smaller
the amount of it that is directly relevant to the question.
Example:
Most people have so-called flashbulb memories of where they were and
what they were doing when something momentous happened.
(Unfortunately, staggeringly terrible news seems to come out of the 5 blue
more often than staggeringly good news.) But as clear and detailed as these
memories feel, psychologists have discovered they are surprisingly
inaccurate.
The function of the last sentence (lines 3-6) is to
A) Acknowledge a point.
B) Indicate a misconception.
C) Criticize a tradition.
D) Propose an alternative.

Option B ‘Indicate a misconception’ is the correct

answer.
PLAYING POSITIVE
AND NEGATIVE
WITH FUNCTION
QUESTIONS
PLAYING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE WITH FUNCTION
QUESTIONS:

Positive passages/portions of passages +ve answers

Negative passages/portions of passages -ve answers

While answer choices will often contain function verbs more neutral
than the language of the passage itself, the information in the rest of
the answer may be distinctly positive or negative.
Example:
That led the distinguished zoologist Donald R. Griffin to found the field of
cognitive ethology (animal thinking) in 1978: octopuses piling stones in
front of their hideyholes, to name one recent example; or dolphins fitting
marine sponges to their beaks in order to dig for 15 food on the seabed; or
wasps using small stones to smooth the sand around their egg chambers,
concealing them from predators.
The reference to hideyholes, marine sponges, and small stones (lines 3-6)
serves mainly to
A) Describe ways that animals hide themselves from predators.
B) Point out that tools produced by animals are less complex than human
tools.
C) Provide instances of novel animal behavior in the wild.
D) Indicate the limits of animal consciousness.
Option C ‘Provide instances of novel animal
behavior in the wild’ is the correct answer.