Aiming high on SAT Reading and Writing: identify a sentence’s function
A sentence-function question asks how one part of a text contributes to the whole. You still need reading comprehension: a label such as “counterargument” is useful only when the surrounding text supports it.
This skill belongs to the SAT’s Craft and Structure domain. College Board’s content guide distinguishes it from transitions and rhetorical synthesis in Expression of Ideas, and grammar in Standard English Conventions.
Original teaching exercise
A town plans to replace several diesel buses with electric buses. Some residents object that the purchase price will be too high. The transport committee responds that its proposal should be assessed using both the purchase price and operating costs over the buses’ working lives.
What role does the bold sentence play?
- It proves that the proposal will save money.
- It introduces an objection that the following sentence addresses.
- It describes a result already observed after the buses were replaced.
- It states the transport committee’s final decision to cancel the plan.
Answer: B. The sentence presents residents’ concern about initial cost. The next sentence responds by asking for a broader cost comparison. This is an original example, not an official SAT question.
Do not add a stronger claim
The passage does not establish that the residents are wrong, that electric buses will definitely save money or that the plan was adopted. Calling the objection a “proven misconception” would go beyond the evidence. A describes an unproven benefit; C changes a proposal into a completed event; D invents a cancellation.
“The sentence says the buses cost too much” describes its content, but misses its role in the exchange. The supported role is narrower: an objection followed by a response.
A reusable reading sequence
- Identify whose view the sentence expresses.
- Read what precedes and follows it.
- Describe the relationship in ordinary words.
- Choose the option that matches that relationship without adding certainty.
If you aim for a high total score, use your practice evidence to choose which skills need attention. A 1600 goal does not establish a universal number of allowable mistakes or a fixed module-routing threshold; see College Board’s scoring explanation.
Bring a passage and your rejected choices to an online SAT lesson. The useful result is a reading decision you can repeat independently, rather than a promise that one technique guarantees a perfect score.