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3 real Rhetorical Purpose questions, Tests 1 & 3
Rhetorical Purpose never asks what a detail says — it asks why the author put it there. 3 real examples, each solved by looking at the sentence right before the mentioned detail, not the detail itself.
Q40 — a mention used to set up a contrast
Q40: “Why does the author mention wheat and barley in the passage?”
The passage describes wheat and barley as “domesticated from wild grasses that already produced relatively large, easily harvested seeds” — right before explaining that wild rice “presented early cultivators with a more challenging plant.” The mention exists to set up that contrast, not to teach you about wheat and barley themselves.
Answer: To contrast their easier domestication with rice’s more difficult process.
Q45 — a mention used to show wider reach
Q45: “Why does the author mention business analysts and historical buildings in the passage?”
These examples come right after the sentence “The bias appears well beyond wartime engineering” — they’re there to prove that claim, showing survivorship bias shows up in fields far outside the plane example the passage opened with.
Answer: To illustrate that the bias described appears in fields well beyond wartime engineering.
Q45 — a mention used as an analogy
Q45 (Test 3): “Why does the author mention a bent stick?”
The passage says locked crust “continues to deform elastically, storing mechanical energy much like a bent stick stores energy before it snaps.” The bent stick isn’t the topic — it’s a familiar physical comparison, there purely to make an abstract idea (stored elastic energy in rock) easier to picture.
Answer: To illustrate, through analogy, how crust stores mechanical energy before rupture.
DEB
3 real Rhetorical Purpose questions