16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardFunction of a sentence in a passage about an archive

Craft and Structure practice question

The letters were catalogued in 1950 by an assistant who read none of them; he recorded only dates and correspondents. His catalogue is accurate and useless. Scholars who want to know what the letters say must read all four thousand, as he did not, and several have given up. The archive is now paying for the work he was paid for seventy years ago.

Which choice best describes the function of the sentence "His catalogue is accurate and useless" in the text as a whole?

  1. A. It delivers the judgement that the surrounding sentences explain and justify.Correct
  2. B. It praises the assistant's thoroughness.
  3. C. It describes the contents of the letters.
  4. D. It explains why the archive was founded.

Answer: A. It delivers the judgement that the surrounding sentences explain and justify.

Accurate but useless: the point of the passage.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It praises the assistant's thoroughness.
It criticises his method.
C. It describes the contents of the letters.
The contents are unknown.
D. It explains why the archive was founded.
No founding.

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