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Make it Make Sense
College and Career Readiness
Mrs. Hendrix
SENSE VS. ECONOMY QUESTIONS
You Have to Care
• The shortest answers aren’t necessarily right.
• When the answers are all about the same length, the question
is more likely to test SENSE.
• Consider the shortest answer first, but don’t be quite as quick
to select it.
• Think about the effect each choice has on the meaning of the
sentence, and pick longer answers if the shortest one doesn’t
make sense.
GRAMMAR RULES AND SENSE
QUESTIONS
Connections
• While it’s not necessary to think about grammar rules to
answer the questions, being familiar will help.
• The more ways you have to think about a question, the more
likely you are to find the right answer.
• We’ll go through the quiz to give some examples…
Questions 1 and 12
COMPLETENESS
Question 1
• Rule at work: Every sentence must contain a subject and a
verb and express a complete thought.
• When you are testing completeness, don’t just look to see if it has
a subject and a verb!
• If left alone (A), the sentence would be incomplete.
• It makes no sense!
• What’s wrong with B?
• Nonsensical colon
• What’s wrong with C?
• Adds a comma when there’s no grammatical reason to do so
• D is the correct answer.
• Continues and completes the sentence without adding anything
unnecessary
Question 12
• Rule at work: Every sentence must contain a subject and a
verb and express a complete thought.
• “Though to little acclaim” is obviously a fragment…why?
• If you didn’t know that, though, look at it from an intuitive
level. Does the statement make sense?
• What’s wrong with F & J?
• Fragment is left isolated
• What’s wrong with H?
• Omits any punctuation between the fragment and the main body
of the sentence.
• G does just what we need…
• Logically connects the fragment to the main sentence
Question 4
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Rule at Work
• There are three ways to connect complete
thoughts:
• Use a semicolon
• Use a comma with a coordinating
conjunction (FANBOYS)
• Make one of the two thoughts
incomplete (or dependent).
Question 4
• Rule at Work: A sentence can have two thoughts, but they must be
combined correctly. If none of the answer choices does this, select
the choice that creates two separate sentences.
• In this question, there are two complete thoughts: 1) Selkirk found
himself a celebrity upon his return, and 2) his tale was bandied
about the pubs and coffeehouses.
• What’s wrong with the underlined portion?
• Comma splice!
• What’s wrong with J?
• Run-on
• What’s wrong with G?
• The inclusion of the word “but” doesn’t make any sense
• H is the correct answer because you have to create two sentences,
one for each thought.
Rule at Work for Question 4
• Using the rules for connecting complete
thoughts, we have three options for Question 4:
• Selkirk found himself a celebrity; his strange
tale had already…
• Selkirk found himself a celebrity, for his
strange tale had already…
• Selkirk found himself a celebrity because his
strange tale had already…
Questions2 & 11
SENTENCE SENSE – MODIFIERS
We’ll Focus on Question 2
• Rule at Work: A modifier, or describer, is any word or group of words
that describes another. Any and all describers must clearly relate to
(be close to) whatever they are referring to.
• Sentences become confused if a descriptive word, phrase, or clause
is separated from the verb, noun, pronoun, etc. that it should be
connected to (its antecedent).
• Note: Misplaced modifiers are a common ACT trick. If multiple
answers sound right to you, consider, “Is every modifying phrase
placed near the word it logically modifies?”
• “after a bitter quarrel with his captain” should describe the person
(or pronoun) that follows next. It doesn’t.
• The he who put Selkirk ashore must be the captain…but it’s
not…why?
• Which is correct? Why?
• As a rule of thumb, you should always make sure that modifiers are
as close as possible to the things they describe.
Questions 3 & 8
IDIOM (ACCEPTED WORD FORM AND
CHOICE)
We’ll Focus on Question 3
• Rule at Work: The correct preposition can vary depending on
the sense of the sentence. Many phrases in English are
correct because people have agreed to use them in a certain
way. No overall rules apply. To master these, listen to what
sounds right.
• What’s wrong with B & C?
• Completeness problems
• D just sounds weird
• The sentence as written actually makes sense.
• The idiom “much the same” calls for as to complete the
comparison between Selkirk’s and Crusoe’s ways of life.
Question 5
PRONOUNS – WORD CHOICE,
SENTENCE SENSE, AND ORGANIZATION
Question 5
• Rule at Work: A pronoun must agree with the person or thing it is
referring to, in person, gender, and number. The reference must be
clear; if there is any confusion, the sentence must be fixed.
• Sometimes the ACT will throw you a sentence in which the meaning
of a pronoun is unclear. You won’t be sure to whom or what the
pronoun is referring.
• What’s the intended meaning of the pronoun he?
• What’s the closest male name to the pronoun as the question is
written?
• So make it clear!
• What’s wrong with C?
• Sense problem – his what became the subject of a book?
• What’s wrong with D?
• Shifts the verb tense into the present (the book was written over 250
years ago!)
• B is correct because it changes the pronoun to the correct proper
noun.
Questions 6 & 10
LOGIC – WORD CHOICE, SENTENCE
SENSE, AND ORGANIZATION
We’ll Focus on Question 10
• Rule at work: Words like therefore, despite, however, and
because are structural clues. They serve to let you know
where the author is going an dhow all of the pieces logically fit
together.
• If you see on the other hand, a contrast is coming up.
• If you get the clue moreover, that means a continuation is coming
up – an addition that is more or less in the same vein as what
came before.
• Many ACT questions mix up the logic of a piece of writing by
giving you the wrong structural clue or another logic word.
• What’s wrong with the sentence as written?
• Why is G the correct answer?
Question 7
VERB USAGE – VERB TENSE, WORD
CHOICE, AND SENTENCE SENSE
Rules at Work
• Use the simplest tense possible.
• In most cases, the present, past, and future tenses are all you
need.
• Change tenses only if the sentence doesn’t make sense as
written.
• Make sure the verb is singular if it has a singular subject and
plural if the subject is plural.
Question 7
• Verbs have an annoying habit of changing form depending on
who’s doing the action and when that person is doing it.
• You have to be very careful to make sure verbs match their
subject and the tense of the surrounding context.
• The publication of Robinson Crusoe is something that took
place in 1719 – the past.
• What’s wrong with the underlined portion?
• Puts the verb in the present perfect tense
• What’s wrong with C & D?
• Put the verb into tenses normally used to convey a complex time
relationship or a weird time sequence.
• B is the correct answer.
Question 13
TONE – WORD CHOICE & WRITING
STRATEGY
Rule at Work
• Every writer of an ACT English passage has a voice, or tone.
This voice is usually either casual (conversational) or factual
(informational). Select the answer that fits the author’s voice.
• If a passage contains slang, a few exclamation points, and a
joke or two, the tone is informal.
• If the passage sounds like something from a textbook, the
tone is probably formal.
• Good style requires that the tone of a piece of writing be
consistent throughout.
• Sometimes the underlined portion might not fit the tone of the
rest of the passage.
• It’s up to YOU to correct it!
Question 13
• Selkirk “never gave a hoot” about going back? Really?
• Slang doesn’t belong in this passage.
• Which choice uses a straightforward, factual tone that fits the
passage?
•
•
•
•
NO CHANGE is silly.
Choice B is too wordy and formal.
Choice C is also slang.
Choice D is the correct answer.
• Don’t just pick an answer because it sounds “fancy.”
• Pick commonsense, everyday words that express the meaning the
author intends.
• Don’t worry if it sounds plain
Question 14 & 15
NONSTANDARD-FORMAT QUESTIONS –
WRITING STRATEGY & ORGANIZATION
Nonstandard-Format Questions
• Nonstandard-Format Questions ask about the passage as a
whole.
• Keep in mind the main point – the gist – as well as the overall
tone and style.
• For an entire passage to make sense, it has to be consistent
throughout, both in content and in tone and style.
Question 14 – Judging the Passage
• Question 14 asks you to judge the passage. Was the last
sentence an appropriate ending or not?
• Think of the passage as a whole.
• What has it been doing?
• First, figure out if the last sentence an appropriate ending.
• Then, figure out why the last sentence is or is not an
appropriate ending.
• Comparing Selkirk’s real life with the one that Defoe made up
for the character of Robinson Crusoe.
Question 15 – Reading Comprehension
• The English section includes some questions that test your
reading comprehension skills!
• So, think about what this passage was about.
• How Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was loosely based on the life of a
real shipwrecked sailor, Alexander Selkirk.
• Why is B wrong?
• Why are A & C wrong?
• Why is D correct?
IN SUMMARY…
If you learned only two things…
• Consider the meaning of a sentence. If it doesn’t make sense,
there’s probably a grammatical mistake. The correct answer
will make sense.
• Nonstandard-Format Questions ask you to judge the passage
and consider it as a whole. You may be asked about paragraph
structure and fuction.