SAT OwlQuestion bank / Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek device recovered from a shipwreck in 1901.
• It is made of bronze gears housed in a wooden case.
• It was used to predict the positions of the Sun and Moon and the timing of eclipses.
• It is believed to date to the second or first century BCE.
• Devices with gearing as complex as the mechanism's are not known again until the fourteenth century CE, in Europe.
The student wants to emphasize how far ahead of other known devices the Antikythera mechanism was. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Devices with gearing as complex as that of the Antikythera mechanism, which dates to the second or first century BCE, are not known again until the fourteenth century CE.
Recovered from a shipwreck in 1901, the Antikythera mechanism is made of bronze gears housed in a wooden case.
The Antikythera mechanism was used to predict the positions of the Sun and Moon.
The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek device made of bronze gears.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
To show the mechanism was far ahead of other devices, the sentence needs a comparison over time. Choice A gives its date and notes that nothing with such complex gearing is known for well over a thousand years afterward.
Choice C describes an impressive ability, but it doesn't compare the mechanism with any other device.
Why the other choices are wrong
- B. This describes the device's discovery and materials without comparing it with other devices.
- C. This says what the device did but doesn't compare it with other known devices.
- D. This identifies the device and its material but gives no comparison.
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