16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardStructure of a passage on a mistaken attribution

Craft and Structure practice question

For a century the portrait hung in the gallery as a work of the court painter, and visitors admired his hand. Then a conservator cleaning it found, under the varnish, a monogram that was not his. The gallery's first response was to doubt the monogram; its second was to doubt the century of admiration. The painting has not changed. What has changed is what visitors think they are looking at, and, the gallery's records show, how long they look.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

  1. A. It recounts a discovery that overturned an attribution and then reflects on how the discovery altered viewers' response to an unchanged object.Correct
  2. B. It argues that the conservator was mistaken.
  3. C. It describes the court painter's career.
  4. D. It explains how varnish is removed.

Answer: A. It recounts a discovery that overturned an attribution and then reflects on how the discovery altered viewers' response to an unchanged object.

Discovery, doubt, reflection on the viewers.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It argues that the conservator was mistaken.
The monogram is accepted.
C. It describes the court painter's career.
No career.
D. It explains how varnish is removed.
No technique.

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