Drill 1 - PURPOSE AND POINT OF VIEW - Are You Ready for the SAT & ACT

Are You Ready for the SAT & ACT?

PURPOSE AND POINT OF VIEW

Drill 1

Read the sentences below, and use the accompanying questions to find the primary purpose of each one. Write down your answers.

1. In Argentina, for example, inflation is expected to reach 25% annually by December of 2014.

What does the author say?

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Why does he or she make that statement?

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2. We have no exact knowledge of the number of auxiliary Roman troops during Augustus” time, but they probably came to be as numerous as the legionaries.

What does the author say?

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Why does he or she make that statement?

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3. The fact, however, that Jane Austen had not earned more than £700 from her novels by the time of her death shows that she never became a really popular author in her lifetime.

What does the author say?

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Why does he or she make that statement?

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4. It has often been said that in Chinese painting, perspective is ignored. Nothing is further from the truth. This error arises from the fact that we have confused one system of perspective with perspective as a whole. There are as many systems of perspective as there are conventional laws for them.

What does the author say in the first sentence of the paragraph?

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What does the author discuss immediately after this sentence?

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Consider how these thoughts fit together. Why did he or she write the first sentence of the paragraph?

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5. The primary purpose of lines 3–5 (Has not the very name … of mind?) is to

a) illustrate a contrast between two trials

b) provide an example that supports a previous statement.

c) demonstrate the fickle nature of mystery writers

d) question the need for deeper inquiry into a tragic history

e) criticize the way in which a certain investigation was handled