Craft and StructureEasyCross-text connections: identifying a difference in emphasis between paired texts
Craft and Structure practice question
Text 1
Many cities now require new buildings to include "green roofs"—rooftops planted with grasses and low shrubs. Measurements show that these roofs lower the temperature of the air around them on hot days and soak up rainwater that would otherwise rush into the streets. In crowded neighborhoods with almost no open ground, a green roof is one of the few remaining ways to add plant life.
Text 2
Green roofs are often praised for cooling the air above a city, and they do. But the plants must be watered, weeded, and eventually replaced, and the wet soil adds weight that many older buildings were never designed to carry. A green roof that is abandoned after two dry summers delivers none of the benefits its designers promised.
Which choice best describes a difference in how the two texts present green roofs?
- A. Text 1 highlights the benefits green roofs can provide, whereas Text 2 emphasizes the maintenance and structural demands they create.Correct
- B. Text 1 argues that green roofs should be required by law, whereas Text 2 argues that they should be banned.
- C. Text 1 claims that green roofs cool the surrounding air, whereas Text 2 denies that they have any cooling effect.
- D. Text 1 discusses green roofs on older buildings, whereas Text 2 discusses green roofs on newly constructed ones.
Answer: A. Text 1 highlights the benefits green roofs can provide, whereas Text 2 emphasizes the maintenance and structural demands they create.
Text 1 lists advantages (cooler air, absorbed rainwater, added plant life); Text 2 concentrates on the watering, weeding, replacement, and added weight that green roofs require. (B) overstates both texts: Text 1 reports that cities require green roofs but does not argue for such laws, and Text 2 never calls for a ban—only for awareness of upkeep. (C) ignores Text 2's explicit concession "and they do," which grants the cooling effect. (D) swaps the texts' details: it is Text 1 that mentions new buildings and Text 2 that mentions older ones.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Text 1 argues that green roofs should be required by law, whereas Text 2 argues that they should be banned.
- Both halves overstate: Text 1 reports that cities require green roofs without arguing they should, and Text 2 asks for awareness of upkeep, never a ban.
- C. Text 1 claims that green roofs cool the surrounding air, whereas Text 2 denies that they have any cooling effect.
- Text 2 explicitly concedes the cooling effect with "and they do"—its objection is about maintenance and weight, not cooling.
- D. Text 1 discusses green roofs on older buildings, whereas Text 2 discusses green roofs on newly constructed ones.
- The details are swapped: Text 1 is the one about new buildings, and Text 2 is the one that raises older buildings not designed to carry the weight.
More Craft and Structure questions
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As used in the text, what does the word "plain" most nearly mean? - Easy
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As used in the text, what does the phrase "set aside" most nearly mean? - Easy
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