ACT Preparation / Unit 5 ACT 0419 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Naming the Function of a Sentence
The idea
To name what a sentence does, work in three steps. First, read the sentence before and the sentence after. Second, ask how the sentence relates to them: does it introduce a topic, support a claim with evidence or an example, explain a point, turn to a contrast, or sum up? Third, test the answer choice against both neighbors: a sentence called a contrast must turn against what came before.
In practice
Worked example: "Most solar panels lose efficiency in heat. A panel tested in Arizona lost twelve percent of its output in July. Engineers now add cooling fins to new designs." The middle sentence follows a general claim with a particular measured case, so its function is to give evidence for the claim. A choice describing it as introducing a new topic fails, because the topic did not change.
Where people slip
Function answers often share a small set of verbs: introduces, illustrates, contrasts, concludes. Match the verb, then check its object: illustrates which claim?
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