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Is it safe to say every RC passage has sentence that states the MP & Purpose? Could you underline one sentence in the passage and say "this is the main point" & another one saying "this the author's purpose"? Or is the MP & AP not so obvious?

Thank you people for all the help in advance.

No - not so obvious.

Mik Ekim wrote:No - not so obvious.

Wow, I hoping you ("The Great Mik Ekim") would drop some serious knowledge down for this one but thanks for answering so quickly.

lsatkid007 wrote:Is it safe to say every RC passage has sentence that states the MP & Purpose? Could you underline one sentence in the passage and say "this is the main point" & another one saying "this the author's purpose"?

Usually it's the opposite of this. If a particular answer choice is focusing on a single sentence from the passage, it's usually a wrong answer to a main point/primary purpose question.

The main point/primary purpose should be summing up the entire passage, perhaps with emphasis on a particular spot where the author expresses a distinct opinion. But it shouldn't focus exclusively on one sentence.

Also, main point and primary purpose are really similar, so you wouldn't be looking at different parts of the passage anyway.

Usually the way I get to main point/primary purpose is by thinking about the main point of each paragraph, and then putting those main points together. That's one of the most important things I'm trying to get out of the initial read of the passage; it helps with answering several questions, not just the one that asks about the main point/primary purpose.

Thank you tomwatts