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Craft and StructureEasyText structure and purpose: function of a specified sentence

Craft and Structure practice question

Octopuses are famous for changing color, but their skin may do more than help them signal and hide. A 2023 study reported that octopus skin contains the same light-sensitive proteins found in the animal's eyes. When researchers shone bright light on small patches of skin that had been separated from the body, the pigment sacs in those patches expanded on their own, with no signal from the brain. Octopuses, it seems, may sense light with nearly their entire surface.

Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the text as a whole?

  1. A. It introduces a research finding that supports the possibility raised in the previous sentence.Correct
  2. B. It identifies a weakness in the experiment described in the sentence that follows it.
  3. C. It explains why octopuses rely on camouflage to hide from predators.
  4. D. It calls into question the conclusion stated at the end of the text.

Answer: A. It introduces a research finding that supports the possibility raised in the previous sentence.

Sentence 1 raises the possibility that octopus skin does more than signal and camouflage; sentence 2 then reports the study's finding (eye proteins in the skin) that gives that possibility support, which the rest of the text develops. (B) mistakes the sentence for criticism: nothing in it points out a flaw, and the experiment is presented as evidence, not as flawed. (C) latches onto the word "camouflage" in sentence 1, but sentence 2 never explains why octopuses hide; it reports what the skin contains. (D) reverses the direction of the text's logic—the sentence builds toward the closing conclusion rather than undermining it.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It identifies a weakness in the experiment described in the sentence that follows it.
Nothing in the second sentence points out a flaw—the study is offered as evidence supporting the idea in sentence 1, not as a target of criticism.
C. It explains why octopuses rely on camouflage to hide from predators.
You picked up on "camouflage" from sentence 1, but sentence 2 never explains why octopuses hide; it reports what researchers found in the skin.
D. It calls into question the conclusion stated at the end of the text.
This reverses the text's logic: the sentence builds toward the closing conclusion about sensing light with the whole surface rather than undermining it.

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