Craft and StructureEasy–MediumFunction of a counterfactual final sentence
Craft and Structure practice question
The town's Roman bridge still carries traffic. Its secret is its shape: the arch pushes each load outward into the abutments, so the stones are always in compression, which stone withstands well. A flat span of the same stone would have collapsed within a generation.
Which choice best describes the function of the final sentence?
- A. It emphasises the arch's advantage by describing what a different design would have done.Correct
- B. It describes a second bridge in the town.
- C. It contradicts the claim made in the second sentence.
- D. It explains what compression is.
Answer: A. It emphasises the arch's advantage by describing what a different design would have done.
By imagining a flat span that would have failed, the last sentence makes the arch's durability stand out.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. It describes a second bridge in the town.
- No second bridge exists; the flat span is hypothetical.
- C. It contradicts the claim made in the second sentence.
- The sentence reinforces the second sentence's point.
- D. It explains what compression is.
- Compression is explained in the second sentence, not the last.
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