16Hit1600
Craft and StructureVery hardFunction of a concluding qualification

Craft and Structure practice question

Beginning writers are told to 'show, don't tell', and the advice is sound as far as it goes. A scene that lets readers infer a character's grief is usually stronger than one that announces it. Yet the rule, applied without judgment, produces novels that are all surface — pages of gesture with nothing plainly said. The maxim is a tool, not a law.

Which choice best describes the function of the final sentence?

  1. A. It qualifies the advice discussed in the text by restating what kind of guidance it should be taken as.Correct
  2. B. It rejects the advice discussed in the text as harmful to writers.
  3. C. It gives an example of the advice being applied successfully.
  4. D. It introduces a competing rule that should replace the original one.

Answer: A. It qualifies the advice discussed in the text by restating what kind of guidance it should be taken as.

The text has called the advice 'sound as far as it goes' and then shown its limit. 'A tool, not a law' sums up that balance: useful, but not to be applied mechanically.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It rejects the advice discussed in the text as harmful to writers.
The author called the advice 'sound' and gave an example of it working; the final sentence limits it, not rejects it.
C. It gives an example of the advice being applied successfully.
The example of the advice working is in the second sentence, not the last.
D. It introduces a competing rule that should replace the original one.
No new rule is offered; the sentence describes how to hold the existing one.

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