SAT Reading & Writing · Text Structure and Purpose
Rail birds have independently lost the ability to fly on many separate islands around the world, a pattern researchers attribute to…
Rail birds have independently lost the ability to fly on many separate islands around the world, a pattern researchers attribute to reduced predation risk on islands combined with the substantial energetic cost of maintaining flight capability. Remarkably, some rail lineages appear to have evolved flightlessness more than once, having recolonized an island by flying, then losing flight again in the new population.
Which choice best describes the function of the final sentence in the text?
Which choice best describes the function of the final sentence in the text?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B: It adds a striking specific detail that reinforces how strongly the described selection pressures favor flightlessness on islands.
The detail about flight loss recurring even after recolonization intensifies the passage's central point: the pressures favoring flightlessness on islands are strong enough to produce the same outcome repeatedly, even in a lineage that had regained flight. B captures that reinforcing, intensifying function. A misreads the detail as contradicting the passage's explanation, when it actually strengthens it. C overstates the detail into a sweeping claim about all rail species. D misdescribes a directly related detail as an unrelated topic shift.
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