SAT Reading & Writing · Craft and Structure
Text Structure and Purpose
Craft and Structure is the single biggest domain on Reading and Writing — about 28% of the section, tested on every Digital SAT.
The rule
Every text has a job: state a result, raise a concern, define a term, give an example, or place a study in context. The question asks what the text does, not what it says. Match the function, not the topic.
Worked example
The Stowe House in Hartford, Connecticut, is the house where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived for over twenty years and wrote her novel Poganuc People. Now the house is a museum dedicated to Stowe's life and writings. Visitors travel to this museum to feel more connected to an author they admire. To encourage that sense of connection, the museum's curators have set up exhibits with furniture from the period and Stowe's possessions. Such exhibits help visitors understand day-to-day life in the house where Stowe felt inspired.
Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence ("Now the house is a museum dedicated to Stowe's life and writings.") in the text as a whole?
- A.
It recounts the history of a place mentioned in the previous sentence.
- B.
It states the current purpose of a building mentioned in the previous sentence.
- C.
It recommends the works of an author mentioned in the previous sentence
- D.
It summarizes the career of an author mentioned in the previous sentence.
Walk through it
The underlined sentence follows a statement about the house's history (where Stowe lived and wrote) and tells readers what the building is used for now — a museum. That's exactly what choice B says: it states the building's current purpose. It isn't recounting history (A), recommending Stowe's books (C), or summarizing her career (D) — it's simply naming the site's present-day function.
The traps
The answer says the text introduces a field-wide problem, but the passage only describes one study. Scope is inflated.
The answer claims the text offers a solution when it only raises a concern, or compares studies when one merely provides context.
The answer uses exact passage words but assigns an action the text never performs — like "argues for" when it only "explains why." Match function first.
The procedure
- Split the passage into two or three moves. Label each with a plain verb: states a result, raises a concern, gives an example, presents a trend.
- For an underlined-portion question, label only that portion's job relative to surrounding sentences.
- Eliminate any answer whose label doesn't match. Then verify the scope isn't exaggerated. Pick the answer describing what the text does.
Rule, traps, and procedure drawn from the verified skill playbook for “Text Structure and Purpose” (drafted against real questions, verified by a second independent pass — see lib/content/playbooks/text-structure-and-purpose.md). Worked example is a real, verified SAT practice question from the live question bank, not generated for this lesson.