SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details
In a poem, the speaker describes repairing a watch inherited from a parent. Each time the watch begins ticking again, the speaker notices…
In a poem, the speaker describes repairing a watch inherited from a parent. Each time the watch begins ticking again, the speaker notices that it still loses several minutes by evening. Instead of correcting the defect, the speaker eventually stops adjusting it, saying that the watch “keeps the hour I remember.” The object’s inaccuracy becomes inseparable from the memory attached to it.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Answer and explanation
Answer: A: The speaker values the watch partly because its imperfection has become connected to memory.
The poem's final line reframes the watch's persistent inaccuracy as something the speaker has come to value instead of continuing to correct, which is exactly the shift A names. B misreads simple non-technical language as a lack of understanding the poem never suggests. C invents an accusation against the parent that the poem never makes. D contradicts the poem, which describes the speaker choosing to stop adjusting the watch, not replacing it.
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