Free SAT Practice Question

Question 1 of 1
ID: DSAT-RW-90
Section: Digital SAT Reading & Writing (RW) - Broadly Reading - Craft and Structure
Topic: Text Structure and Purpose
Difficulty level: Medium

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The following text is adapted from The Mill on the Floss (1860) by George Eliot, a British novelist. In this excerpt, the narrator reflects on the differing temperaments of two siblings.

Maggie had always been the tempest—restless, wild in thought, and full of sudden tears and laughter. Tom, by contrast, was steady as the riverbank, rarely swayed by passion or doubt.
He was the sort of person who built walls against the storm, while Maggie danced in the rain.
Their father, loving both, often found himself caught between admiration for Tom's resolve and confusion at Maggie's volatility. Yet, in moments of quiet, even he seemed to wonder whether walls or dancing better met life's tempests.

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

AIt critiques Maggie's carefree attitude by contrasting it with Tom's sensible nature.

BIt highlights the emotional tension between the father's expectations and his children's personalities.

CIt uses metaphor to illustrate the fundamental difference between the siblings' approaches to life.

DIt explains why the father feels more aligned with Tom than with Maggie.

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