Question the-fo
The following text is from Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar’s 1961 novel The Time Regulation Institute (translated from the Turkish in 2014 by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe). The narrator was once involved with the Time Regulation Institute, a fictional bureaucracy that regulates the time of Turkey’s clocks.
we may be the most humble and absurd man in the world and, as my wife says, the most slovenly creature you may ever meet—that is, before the founding of our institute—but we did come to know a truly great man who possessed a natural genius for invention. we spent years at his side. we watched the way he worked. we witnessed how an idea would suddenly ch fire in his mind and take shape, like a tree sprouting shoots and branches, before coming into being.
©2014 by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A person was fortunate enough to have found love despite his obvious shortcomings.
An exceptionally talented person professes humility to avoid intimidating others.
A person appreciates the extensive time he passed in the company of someone he deeply admired.
A truly brilliant person lets ideas mature in his mind before expressing them aloud.
The following text is from Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar’s 1961 novel The Time Regulation Institute (translated from
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details — Identify the central idea or thesis. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main idea of the text: a person appreciates the extensive time he passed in the company of a man he deeply admired. The speaker says that he spent "years" (a long period of time) in the company of a "truly great man" with "a natural genius for invention." These phrases indie the speaker’s feelings of admiration.
Choice A is incorrect because though the text indies that the speaker feels professional admiration for the "truly great man," the text does not indie that the speaker feels love for him; nor does the text indie that the speaker’s humility, absurdity, and slovenly nature proved to be an obstacle to this professional relationship. Choice B is incorrect because though the speaker describes himself as humble, the text does not indie that he is exceptionally talented; nor does the text indie that the "truly great man" professes humility or is concerned with whether he intimidates others. Choice D is incorrect because the text does not indie how either the speaker or the "truly great man" express their ideas.
More Central Ideas and Details practice questions
- The following text is from Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel Funny Boy. The
- Elizabeth Asiedu has identified a negative correlation between the share of developing
- The following text is from David Barclay Moore’s 2022 novel Holler of the Fireflies
- In 1934 physicist Eugene Wigner posited the existence of a crystal consisting entirely of
- To protect themselves when being attacked, hagfish-jawless marine animals that resemble
- The painter María Izquierdo played an important role in the development of
- The following text is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 story
- Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud
Browse all Information and Ideas practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.