The Craft and Structure section of the Digital SAT is designed to evaluate students' comprehension of literary devices, narrative techniques, and structural elements within passages. This section assesses students' ability to analyze how authors use language, structure, and style to convey meaning and create effects. By examining the craft and structure of texts, students gain insights into the author's intentions, the development of themes, and the overall impact on the reader. Through a series of multiple-choice questions, students are challenged to identify literary devices such as imagery, metaphor, and symbolism, as well as to analyze narrative techniques such as point of view, pacing, and tone. The Craft and Structure section aims to cultivate critical reading skills and enhance students' understanding of the complexities of written communication.
Practice Questions
Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:In recommending Bao Phi’s collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the spoken-word poet don’t lose their ______ nature when printed: the language has the same pleasant musical quality on the page as it does when performed by Phi.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer. “Melodic,” referring to a pleasant arrangement of sounds, effectively signals the later use in the passage of “pleasant musical quality” to refer to Phi’s spoken-word poetry when read rather than heard.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice A is incorrect because “jarring,” meaning disagreeable or upsetting, suggests the opposite of what the passage says about the “pleasant musical quality” of Phi’s spoken-word poetry, whether read or heard.
- Choice B is incorrect because “scholarly” does not effectively signal the later use in the passage of “pleasant musical quality” to refer to Phi’s spoken-word poetry.
- Choice D is incorrect because “personal” does not effectively signal the later use in the passage of “pleasant musical quality” to refer to Phi’s spoken-word poetry.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. [Jay Gatsby] was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American—that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness.
As used in the text, what does the word “quality” most nearly mean?
Explanation
Choice A is the best answer. As used in the last sentence of the passage, “quality” refers to a trait or attribute (“characteristic”)—specifically, Jay Gatsby’s “resourcefulness of movement,” which manifested as restlessness.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice B is incorrect because although Jay Gatsby’s “resourcefulness of movement” is a trait or attribute, referring to it as a “standard” implies that he is meeting a requirement or criterion set by others, a conclusion the passage does not support.
- Choices C and D are incorrect because neither “prestige” nor “accomplishment” makes sense in this context.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:The work of molecular biophysicist Enrique M. De La Cruz is known for ______ traditional boundaries between academic disciplines. The university laboratory that De La Cruz runs includes engineers, biologists, chemists, and physicists, and the research the lab produces makes use of insights and techniques from all those fields.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice D is the best answer. “Transcending,” which means rising above or going beyond limits, effectively signals that De La Cruz broke down traditional academic disciplinary boundaries by working with experts, ideas, and methods from numerous fields.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice A is incorrect because “reinforcing” suggests the opposite of what the passage says, which is that De La Cruz broke down, rather than made stronger, traditional barriers between academic disciplines.
- Choice B is incorrect because “anticipating,” in the sense of expecting or acting in advance of something, does not make sense in this context.
- Choice C is incorrect because “epitomizing,” meaning to use something as an ideal example, suggests the opposite of what the text says, which is that De La Cruz broke down, rather than idealized, traditional barriers between academic disciplines
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:Some studies have suggested that posture can influence cognition, but we should not overstate this phenomenon. A case in point: In a 2014 study, Megan O’Brien and Alaa Ahmed had subjects stand or sit while making risky simulated economic decisions. Standing is more physically unstable and cognitively demanding than sitting; accordingly, O’Brien and Ahmed hypothesized that standing subjects would display more risk aversion during the decision-making tasks than sitting subjects did, since they would want to avoid further feelings of discomfort and complicated risk evaluations. But O’Brien and Ahmed actually found no difference in the groups’ performance.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
Explanation
Choice D is the best answer. The passage asserts that “we should not overstate” the effect of posture on cognition and uses the O’Brien and Ahmed study as a “case in point” in support of that claim.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice A is incorrect because although the passage indicates that O’Brien and Ahmed reached different conclusions from those of other researchers, it does not use the O’Brien and Ahmed study to criticize how those earlier studies were conducted or to directly challenge the accuracy of those studies’ results.
- Choice B is incorrect because although the passage indicates that the results from studies finding a link between posture and cognition have been overstated, it offers no evidence that the O’Brien and Ahmed study has often been misunderstood.
- Choice C is incorrect because the passage suggests that although O’Brien and Ahmed were interested in studying the matter of posture and cognition, it does not indicate what these researchers thought before conducting their study or that the researchers set out specifically to solve a problem.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:The following text is from Herman Melville’s 1854 short story
“The Lightning-Rod Man.” The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. His singularity impelled a closer scrutiny. A lean, gloomy figure. Hair dark and lank, mattedly streaked over his brow. His sunken pitfalls of eyes were ringed by indigo halos, and played with an innocuous sort of lightning: the gleam without the bolt. The whole man was dripping. He stood in a puddle on the bare oak floor: his strange walking-stick vertically resting at his side.
Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
Explanation
Choice A is the best answer. The underlined sentence, which asserts that the uniqueness of the stranger’s physical appearance invited careful examination, sets up the following sentences’ description of the stranger’s distinctive physical features and stance.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice B is incorrect because the underlined sentence has no direct logical relationship to the previous sentence.
- Choice C is incorrect because the previous sentence does not describe the stranger, so the underlined sentence cannot build on it in this way.
- Choice D is incorrect because the underlined sentence offers a general sense of the stranger’s physical appearance and does not introduce a setting, nor is the main purpose of the following sentences to describe a setting.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:Text 1
What factors influence the abundance of species in a given ecological community? Some theorists have argued that historical diversity is a major driver of how diverse an ecological community eventually becomes: differences in community diversity across otherwise similar habitats, in this view, are strongly affected by the number of species living in those habitats at earlier times.
Text 2
In 2010, a group of researchers including biologist Carla Cáceres created artificial pools in a New York forest. They stocked some pools with a diverse mix of zooplankton species and others with a single zooplankton species and allowed the pool communities to develop naturally thereafter. Over the course of four years, Cáceres and colleagues periodically measured the species diversity of the pools, finding—contrary to their expectations—that by the end of the study there was little to no difference in the pools’ species diversity.
Based on the texts, how would Cáceres and colleagues (Text 2) most likely describe the view of the theorists presented in Text 1?
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer. Text 2 indicates that Cáceres and colleagues expected to find at the end of their study that the pools they stocked with multiple zooplankton species would have greater diversity than the pools they stocked with a single zooplankton species but that this was not, in fact, the case.
Distractor Explanations:
- Choice A is incorrect because the findings obtained by Cáceres and colleagues fundamentally challenge the hypothesis in Text 1 rather than largely support it.
- Choice B is incorrect because “contrary to their expectations” (Text 2) indicates that Cáceres and colleagues had assumed the hypothesis in Text 1 was correct prior to conducting their own study.
- Choice D is incorrect because the findings obtained by Cáceres and colleagues undermine, rather than support, the hypothesis in Text 1.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:Former astronaut Ellen Ochoa says that although she doesn’t have a definite idea of when it might happen, she _______ that humans will someday need to be able to live in other environments than those found on Earth. This conjecture informs her interest in future research missions to the moon.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Ochoa’s prediction that humans will one day need to live in places other than Earth. As used in this context, “speculates” would mean puts forward an idea without firm evidence. The text states that Ochoa “doesn’t have a definite idea” about when humans might need to live in other environments and characterizes Ochoa’s prediction as a “conjecture,” or a conclusion presented without convincing evidence. This context indicates that Ochoa speculates when she makes this prediction.
Choice A is incorrect because saying that Ochoa “demands,” or insists or requires, that humans will one day need to live in other environments than Earth’s wouldn’t make sense in context. The text indicates that she’s unsure about the timing but hypothesizes that it will someday happen.
Choice C is incorrect because saying that Ochoa “doubts,” or questions or disbelieves, that humans will one day need to live in other environments than Earth’s wouldn’t make sense in context. The text indicates that although Ochoa is unsure about the timing, she hypothesizes that humans will need to live in places other than Earth and encourages research into future travel to the moon.
Choice D is incorrect because saying that Ochoa “establishes,” or proves, that humans will one day need to live in other environments than Earth’s wouldn’t make sense in context. Rather than stating that Ochoa discusses her idea with certainty and supports it with evidence, the text indicates that Ochoa is unsure about when humans might need to live in other environments.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:Beginning in the 1950s, Navajo Nation legislator Annie Dodge Wauneka continuously worked to promote public health; this _______ effort involved traveling throughout the vast Navajo homeland and writing a medical dictionary for speakers of Diné bizaad, the Navajo language.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Annie Dodge Wauneka’s work as a Navajo Nation legislator. As used in this context, “persistent” means existing continuously. The text states that Wauneka “continuously worked to promote public health,” traveling extensively and authoring a medical dictionary; this indicates that Wauneka’s effort was persistent.
Choice A is incorrect because describing Wauneka’s effort related to public health as “impartial,” or not partial or biased and treating all things equally, wouldn’t make sense in context. The text suggests that Wauneka’s continuous work was partial in one way, as she focused specifically on promoting public health throughout the Navajo homeland and to speakers of the Navajo language.
Choice B is incorrect because the text emphasizes that Wauneka’s effort to promote public health as a Navajo Nation legislator was continuous and extensive, involving wide travels and the authoring of a medical dictionary. Because this work clearly involved care and dedication, it wouldn’t make sense to describe it as “offhand,” or casual and informal.
Choice D is incorrect because nothing in the text suggests that Wauneka’s effort to promote public health was “mandatory,” or required by law or rule, even though Wauneka was a Navajo Nation legislator. Rather than suggesting that Wauneka’s effort was required for any reason, the text emphasizes the continuous and extensive nature of her work
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:Following the principles of community-based participatory research, tribal nations and research institutions are equal partners in health studies conducted on reservations. A collaboration between the Crow Tribe and Montana State University _______ this model: tribal citizens worked alongside scientists to design the methodology and continue to assist in data collection.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the collaboration between the Crow Tribe and Montana State University. As used in this context, “exemplifies” means demonstrates. The text conveys how the Crow Tribe–Montana State University collaboration serves to illustrate the model of community-based participatory research introduced earlier in the text and expanded on later in the text.
Choice A is incorrect because referring to “circumvents,” or avoids, wouldn’t make sense in context. The text suggests that the Crow Tribe–Montana State University collaboration serves as an example of the principles of community-based participatory research, not that the collaboration evades this model.
Choice B is incorrect because referring to “eclipses,” or overshadows, wouldn’t make sense in context. The text describes the Crow Tribe–Montana State University collaboration as an equal partnership, which indicates that it’s an example of the community-based participatory research model, not that it overshadows the model.
Choice C is incorrect because saying that the collaboration “fabricates,” or creates, the model wouldn’t make sense in context. The text indicates that the Crow Tribe–Montana State University collaboration serves as an example of the model, not that it created the model.
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Question for Introduction: Craft and Structure
Try yourself:The parasitic dodder plant increases its reproductive success by flowering at the same time as the host plant it has latched onto. In 2020, Jianqiang Wu and his colleagues determined that the tiny dodder achieves this _______ with its host by absorbing and utilizing a protein the host produces when it is about to flower.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of a relationship between the dodder plant and its host plant. As used in this context, “synchronization” means the act of things happening at the same time. The text indicates that the dodder and its host plant flower in unison and that this synchronization occurs because the dodder makes use of a protein produced by the host shortly before flowering.
Choice B is incorrect because referring to “hibernation,” or the state of being dormant or inactive, wouldn’t make sense in context. The text focuses on something the dodder plant actively engages in—making use of a protein and producing flowers.
Choice C is incorrect because stating that the dodder plant and its host engage together in “prediction,” or the act of declaring or indicating something in advance, wouldn’t make sense in context. Rather than indicating that the dodder plant and its host plant make a prediction about flowering activity, the text suggests that the host produces a protein as part of its regular flowering process and that the dodder then absorbs and uses that protein to flower at the same time.
Choice D is incorrect because referring to “moderation,” or the act of causing something to become less intense or extreme, wouldn’t make sense in context. Although the text states that the dodder plant absorbs and uses a protein made by its host plant, it doesn’t suggest that the dodder lessens the host plant’s flowering activity; the two plants simply flower in unison
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