The purpose of the passage — Aptitude Question
The purpose of the passage: For most of the twentieth century, sleep was treated as an absence: the hours in which… Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Reading Comprehension
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 90 seconds
Question
For most of the twentieth century, sleep was treated as an absence: the hours in which nothing happened. That view has been overturned. The sleeping brain consolidates the day's learning, clears metabolic waste and rehearses motor sequences. What looks like inactivity is in fact a second shift. The practical consequence is uncomfortable for a culture that prizes long hours — cutting sleep to gain working time is a trade that reliably loses more than it gains.
The author's primary purpose is to:
Options
- Correct a common belief and draw a practical conclusion from the correction
- Describe an experiment in detail
- Compare sleep patterns across countries
- Recommend a specific number of hours of sleep
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: A. Correct a common belief and draw a practical conclusion from the correction
Worked solution
- The passage first corrects the view of sleep as an absence.
- It then draws out the practical consequence for working hours.
- No experiment, comparison or specific recommendation appears.
Answer: Correct a common belief and draw a practical conclusion from the correction.
The idea
Purpose questions ask what the author is doing, not what they are saying. Describe the structure of the passage in a verb: correct, compare, propose, warn.
Shortcut. The passage makes two moves — 'That view has been overturned' (a correction) and 'The practical consequence' (a conclusion). The option that names both moves is the purpose; the others describe content that is not there.
Common trap. "Recommend a specific number of hours of sleep" — the warning against cutting sleep feels like advice, but the passage never gives a figure or a recommendation.