SAT OwlQuestion bank / Text Structure and Purpose
Many large cities have tried to reduce traffic by building subway systems. In Bogota, Colombia, planners took a different approach in the late 1990s. Rather than building an expensive subway, they created TransMilenio, a network of buses running in dedicated lanes, with stations where passengers pay before boarding. The system cost far less to build than a subway would have, and within a few years it was carrying more than a million passengers a day.
Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?
It provides evidence that subways are more efficient than buses.
It summarizes the results of Bogota's transit system.
It introduces a city whose approach differs from a common strategy, an approach the rest of the text describes.
It describes a problem that the text later says remains unsolved.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
The first sentence gives a common strategy (subways). The second introduces Bogota as taking "a different approach," and the remaining sentences describe that approach and its results. Choice C describes this role.
Choice B describes the last sentence, which reports the system's cost and ridership; the second sentence only introduces Bogota's approach.
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