Reading Comprehension: Structure Questions

What is the function of the second paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole?

Great work!

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The first paragraph describes how endotherms regulate their own body temperature so that it does not match the temperature of the air. However, this might lead some to think that air temperature is irrelevant to endotherms (i.e. that an endotherm can regulate its internal body temperature to adapt to any environment), a misconception clarified in the second paragraph.

The third paragraph tells us that climate change has had and continues to have an effect on endotherms. This happens because endotherms are sensitive to the temperature of the air, a fact presented in the second paragraph.

Incorrect.

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This answer choice presents a classic distractor for structure questions: it discusses the content of the paragraph, but does not describe the function of the paragraph. In other words, this answer choice mistakenly discusses what is being said in the 2 paragraph, instead of explaining why it is being said, in the context of the passage.

Incorrect.

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The creatures mentioned in the first paragraph, endotherms, are able to dissipate and produce heat in order to cope with changes in climate (the process mentioned in the third paragraph). However, the author discusses those mechanisms in the first, not second, paragraph.

Incorrect.

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The author does not show a disparity between the fact that endotherms regulate their body temperature (a biological theory presented in the first paragraph) and the fact that animals are affected by changes in air temperature (events described in the third paragraph). In fact, the author uses the second paragraph to explain why there is no disparity between these two.

Incorrect.

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The second paragraph does not provide more details about the differences in heat dissipation and production in endotherms. It instead describes the effects of air temperature on endotherms' metabolic rate and resource consumption (which are not caused by a deficiency in heat dissipation).

It discusses how a process described in the first paragraph occurs when an additional factor is considered, a factor which, when altered, creates negative effects on certain creatures.

It explains the mechanisms which creatures mentioned in the first paragraph have at their disposal to cope with the process mentioned in the third paragraph.

It clarifies a possible misconception that could be deduced from the information in the first paragraph and explains why the results presented in the third paragraph occur.

It presents facts that allow the author to argue that a biological theory presented in the first paragraph is refuted by the events described in the third paragraph.

It provides more details about an argument about the relative efficiencies of two mechanisms presented in the first paragraph, facts which clarify the processes that allow the events described in the third paragraph to occur.