Craft and Structure
What this domain tests
Craft and Structure questions focus on how a text is built and how words are being used: vocabulary in context, figurative language, tone, author's purpose, point of view, and text structure.
Concepts you must control
- Context meaning. A word's meaning on the test is the meaning that fits the sentence, not necessarily its most common dictionary sense.
- Connotation. Words carry emotional charge. Thrifty and stingy describe the same behavior with opposite attitudes.
- Figurative language. Simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole shape attitude as well as image; identify what the comparison emphasizes.
- Tone vs. mood. Tone is the author's attitude; mood is the feeling created in the reader.
- Author's purpose. Most passages inform, explain, persuade, or entertain. Purpose is revealed by structure and word choice, not by the topic alone.
- Point of view. First person, second person, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient each control what the reader can know.
- Text structure. Chronological, comparison-contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution, and description each signal different relationships between ideas.
Traps to expect
- Picking a familiar definition that does not fit the sentence.
- Choosing an extreme tone word (furious, ecstatic) when the passage is measured.
- Confusing an informative passage with a persuasive one because it contains one opinionated quotation.
- Labeling a structure by topic rather than by the connecting words actually used.
Rule of thumb
For vocabulary-in-context, cover the word, substitute your own word, and reread the sentence. If your substitute preserves the sentence's logic, you have the right meaning.
Worked example
"The committee's report was measured in tone." A test-taker drawn to measured as "calculated by length" will miss the point. Rereading shows the sentence contrasts the report with angry public comments, so measured means restrained and deliberate.