SAT OwlQuestion bank / Text Structure and Purpose
The following text is from a 1921 poem by Elias Grant.
My grandfather's chair still stands beside the stove,
Its cushion pressed to fit a shape now gone;
No one has sat in it these seven years,
Though no one ever said it must be so.
The children skirt it, playing, as they'd skirt
A sleeping dog, and lower their voices there;
And when the evening fire is lit, my mother
Still sets his cup of tea upon the arm.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To describe the furniture in the speaker's family home
To criticize the family for refusing to move or give away the grandfather's chair
To show how the family still honors the grandfather's memory in small ways
To explain how the speaker's grandfather died
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
Seven years after the grandfather's death, no one sits in his chair, the children lower their voices near it, and the mother still sets out his tea. These unspoken habits show the family honoring his memory, choice C.
Choice A treats the chair as the subject, but the poem cares about the chair only for what the family's behavior around it reveals.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. The chair is the only furniture described, and it matters because of what the family's habits show.
- B. The speaker describes the family's habits tenderly and offers no criticism.
- D. The poem notes that the grandfather is gone but never says how he died.
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