Download Part II How to Crack the ACT English Test 5 Introduction to the ACT

Part II
How to Crack the
ACT English Test
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Introduction to the ACT English Test
Sentence Structure and Punctuation
Grammar and Usage
Rhetorical Skills
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Chapter 5
Introduction to the
ACT English Test
The English test does not test how well you write. It tests
how well you know and can apply the rules of standard
written English. The ACT is a standardized test, so it
always tests the same basic concepts. If you don’t know
what the question is testing, you can look at the answers for
clues. In this chapter, you’ll learn how you can find these
clues and use them along with test strategy to get a higher
English score.
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What’s Good Writing?
Deciding what constitutes good writing is difficult. So much depends on the context, on what
the writer is trying to accomplish, and on who is doing the deciding.
Call Us Ignorant, but We Prefer
“Four Score and Seven”
These days, there are computer programs that are supposed to fix our writing. Mike Royko, the
national columnist, once decided to try out one of these computer programs on Abraham
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, with predictably humorous results. “Four score and seven years
ago” became “eighty-seven years ago” and it went downhill from there, turning a moving
document of history into trite, conventional, standard English.
What the English Test Tests
The English test measures how well you understand “the conventions of standard written
English.” There are 5 passages to read. Portions of each passage will be underlined, and you
must decide whether these portions are correct as written or whether one of the other answer
choices is better.
Some questions are designed to measure you knowledge of punctuation, grammar, and sentence
structure. Other questions are designed to see if you know how to revise and strengthen a
passage, how to change particular words for style or clarity, or how to “explain or support a point
of view [more] clearly and effectively.” There are a total of 75 questions to answer in 45
minutes.
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Punctuation—10
Grammar and usage—12
Sentence structure—18
Writing and strategy—12
Organization—11
Style—12
What Your Score Means
Good writing is, to some extent, a matter of opinion. No matter how well or how poorly you do
on the English test, you should not feel your ACT English score truly represents your ability to
write. A good score does not make you the next Jane Austen; a bad score does not make you the
next Bart Simpson.
We don’t mean to imply that ACT is doing a bad job. It’s tough to measure English skills, and
we think the test writers have constructed a fair test. In the end, however, what the ACT English
test measure is how well you take the ACT English test.
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Remember, This Is a Standardized Test
Every time the ACT is given, it tests the same things in the same way. You don’t need to be a
strong writer to do well on this test. You do need to know what types of errors crop up again and
again and how to fix them. By going into the exam armed with this knowledge, you can more
easily identify both the intentional errors and the correct answers for these questions.
We are going to review all punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and rhetorical skills that
are tests on this exam.
Memorize the Directions for the Test So
You Don’t Have to Read Them on Test Day
These are the directions you will find on the test. If you commit them to memory now, you will
have two or three questions answered before anyone else even starts.
In the following five passages, certain words and phrases have been underlined
and numbered. You will find alternatives for each underlined portion in the righthand column. Select the one that best expresses the idea, that makes the statement
acceptable in standard written English, or that is phrase most consistently with the
style and tone of the entire passage. If you feel that the original version is best,
select “NO CHANGE.” You will also find questions asking about a section of the
passage or about the entire passage.
For these questions, decide which choice gives the most appropriate response to
the given questions. For each question in the test, select the best choice and fill in
the corresponding space on the answer folder. You may wish to read each
passage through before you begin to answer the questions associated with it.
Most answers cannot be determined without reading several sentences around the
phrases in question. Make sure to read far enough ahead each time you choose an
alternative.
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What Do the Passages Look Like?
Here is part of a sample passage.
[1]
When studying a foreign language, its
1
helpful to have a grasp with other foreign
2
languages, if only because one has already
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learned what things are most important to
know how to say first.
[2]
[1] I am proud to tell you that I can ask,
“Where is the bathroom?” in four different
languages. [2] We both, however, admire
the accomplishments of my clumsy friend,
Al. [3] He can says he is sorry in fourteen
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different languages.
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1. A. NO CHANGE
B. its’
C. it’s
D. it, is
2. F. NO CHANGE
G. of
H. to
J. OMIT the underlined portion
3. A. NO CHANGE
B. languages. Only
C. languages, only if
D. language: only if
4.
F. NO CHANGE
G. say
H. said
J. says that
5. Suppose the author wants to add the
following sentence to paragraph 2:
My friend Alice can ask for directions in
five different languages.
Item 6 asks about the preceding passage as a whole
The best place to insert this sentence would
be:
A. Before sentence 1
B. Before sentence 2
C. Before sentence 3
D. After sentence 3
6. Suppose the author had chosen to write a
short essay on the value of studying
Japanese. Would this essay successfully
fulfill the writer’s goal?
F. No, because the writer is speaking about
the general experience of learning a
language.
G. No, because the writer fails to mention
which languages are the easiest to learn.
H. Yes, because the writer explains how to
learn additional languages.
J. Yes, because the writer offers such facts
as how to say “Where is the bathroom?”
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Most of the questions refer to individual words or phrases in the passage; these words are
underline and numbered. A few of the questions (such as question 5) ask you about the
organization of a paragraph. You can tell what paragraphs they ask about by looking for the
question number in a box at the end of a paragraph. (See the number 5 in a box at the end of the
passage?) You will also see a few questions (such as question 6) that ask you about the passage
as a whole.
By the way, the answers are
1. C
2. G
3. A
4. G
5. B
6. F
TRIAGE
In Chapter 1, we introduced you to the concept of triage and told you that it would be useful on
every test on this exam. In the English test, the ACT writers have concocted their own brand of
triage so that the specific questions (on subjects such as punctuation, grammar, and sentence
structure) tend to come earlier in each passage. Usually there will be one or two questions about
style or rhetoric at the end of each passage, dealing with the passage as a whole.
Some rhetorical questions are sprinkled throughout the passages, and just because a question is at
the beginning of a passage or only deals with a small mistake in grammar doesn’t mean you will
necessarily spot the correct answer right away. If you are not sure what point of grammar,
punctuation, or sentence structure is being tested, you should probably use POE (Process of
Elimination) and move on: If you can eliminate any of the answer choices because you are sure
they are wrong, you should cross out those choices and guess from what is left. You get the
most out of your ability when you really attack the answer choices.
In our students’ experience, the format of this test—passages side by side with the questions—
tends to make them want to guess too quickly. The impulse is to pick the first answer that
sounds good is sometimes very strong. After all, this is English, which for many of us is our first
language
The problem is, of course, that it is not the English we speak every day.
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ACT Island
Imagine that a bunch of ACT writers were shipwrecked on a desert island about 20 years ago.
Not having much to do, the continued to write tests, which they slipped into empty bottles and
cast into the sea. The tests regularly wash up on the coast of Iowa (yes, we know that Iowa is
landlocked), where the national headquarters of ACT is located. The company is grateful and
uses the tests regularly.
The only problem is that, after 20 years, the test writers’ English is feeling a little old-fashioned
and stilted. Still, the company feels a lot of loyalty to these shipwrecked grammarians and
wouldn’t dream of changing their tests.
If you make a lot of mistakes in this test, it is probably because you are relying on your ear,
which is used to hearing a less formal English than is tested on the ACT. Moreover, English is a
funny language—lots of things that sound all right are grammatically incorrect, while other
things that sound incorrect are perfectly fine. A much better way to approach this test is to look
for the specific errors that appear on the test all the time. By looking for these errors, you can tka
the guesswork out of your approach to the ACT English test.
Looking for Clues
One of the best ways to look for errors is to search the answer choices for clues. The underlined
portions are very short—usually only a few words—so it’s easy to see how each choice is
different from the others. These differences offer a strong indication of what is on the minds of
the ACT writers.
Look at the following example:
27. A.
B.
C.
D.
NO CHANGE
one goes
you go
he goes
Clearly, this questions is about pronouns. Even if you do not spot something wrong with the
underlined portion of the passage as you read it, the answer choices are telling you to check to
see which of these pronouns agrees with the noun referred to in the passage. (Don’t worry if
you’re rusty on pronouns; we’ll cover them in detail later in this section.
In the sections that follow, we show you the key elements for which to look in the passages and
in the answer choices.
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What If There Is More Than One Thing Wrong?
There is often more than one error in the underlined portion of a sentence. The best way to
approach these questions, however, is not to try to see everything at once. Find one error.
Eliminate the answer choices that contain the same errors, then compare the remaining answer
choices. Regardless of the number of errors you find in the question, keep your focus on the
differences in the answer choices.
POE
You’ve probably already noticed that sometimes, even though you’re not sure what the right
answer is, you’re certain that some of the answers are WRONG. Whenever you know an answer
is wrong, cross it out. That’s called POE (Process of Elimination), and it’s a powerful tool for
raising your score on the ACT.
When you come across an English question you’re not sure how to answer, don’t immediately
circle it for later consideration and move on. First, take a look at the answers and see if there are
any obvious mistakes in them. If there are, use POE. Cross out the wrong answers and guess
from what’s left. You should still circle the question and come back to it later if you have the
time, but this way, you’re getting the most out of the passage right as you’re doing it. By
crossing out the wrong answers and guessing now, you’re preventing yourself from accidentally
picking an answer you know is wring when you use your Letter of the Day.
No Change
Many of the questions in this test have NO CHANGE as the first of the answer choices. Just
because this is a test is no reason to assume that there is always something wrong. NO
CHANGE turns out to be the correct answer a little less than a quarter of the time it is offered.
So don’t be afraid to select it.
OMIT the Underlined Portion
A few of the questions in this test will have “OMIT
the underlined portion” as the last of the four
answer choices. When this choice is offered, it has
a high probability of being correct—better than
half the time on some recent tests. Unfortunately,
a couple of recent tests we’ve seen had OMIT as
the correct choice less than half the time, so you
can’t just choose it every time you see it.
It is worth noting that when you see OMIT, you
should examine it very carefully.
What If Time Is Running Out?
Remember that as good as the techniques
in the next chapters are, this is still a timed
test. What should you do if you are
running out of time? First, fill in every
question with your guess answer. That
way, if the proctor calls time, you at least
have something filled in. The go to the
questions you haven’t done and see which
look like they would be the fastest to do.
Usually, these are the questions with the
shortest answer choices, not the longer
rhetorical skills questions. Do as many of
these as you can, changing the answers
that you’ve already bubbled in as you go.
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A Warning
To forestall the objections of the expert grammarians out there, let us say at the outset that this
discussion is not designed to be an exhaustive discourse on English grammar and usage. You are
reading this chapter to do well on the English test of the ACT. Thus, if we seem to oversimplify
a point or ignore an arcane exception to a rule, it’s because we feel no further detail is warranted.
A rule is unlikely to be tested if it is obscure or controversial.
Before We Begin, Some Terminology
The ACT is not going to ask you to identify parts of speech of diagram a sentence, but it will be
helpful for the following discussion if you know some basic definitions. Here’s a simple
sentence.
Tom broke the vase.
This sentence is made up of two nouns, a verb, and an article.
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A noun is a word used to name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.
A verb is a word that expression action.
An article is a word that modifies or limits a noun.
In the sentence above, Tom and vase are both nouns. The is an article. Broke is a verb. Tom is
the subject of the sentence because it is the person, place, or thing that is “doing” the action (the
passive voice is an exception and will be discussed later). Vase is the object of the sentence
because it receives the action of the verb (again, the passive voice is an exception).
Here’s a more complex version of the same sentence.
Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers.
We’ve added an adverb, and adjective, and a prepositional phrase to the original sentence.
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
An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun.
A preposition is a word that notes the relation of a noun to an action or a thing.
A phrase is a group of words that acts as a single part of speech. A phrase is missing
either a subject, a verb, or both.
A prepositional phrase is a group of words beginning with a preposition.
In the sentence above, accidentally is an adverb modifying the verb broke. Big is an adjective
modifying the noun vase. Of is a preposition because it shows a relationship between vase and
flowers. Of flowers is a prepositional phrase that acts like an adjective by modifying vase.
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Here’s an even more complex version of the same sentence.
As he ran across the room, Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers.
Now we’ve added to the original sentence a secondary clause containing a pronoun.

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A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers is considered the independent clause in this
sentence because it contains the main idea of the sentence and could stand by itself. As he ran
across the room is also a clause (it contains a subject and a verb), but because it is not a
complete thought, it is called a dependent clause. In this clause, he is a pronoun taking the
place of Tom.
Summary
o Do the questions in order, leaving only tougher
rhetorical questions for the end. If you’re
having trouble with a particular question, leave
it and come back. Often a later question will
help you with an earlier one.
o Search the answer choices for clues. Focus on
the differences between the answer choices,
and use that information to determine the
errors(s) being tested.
o Look for one error at a time. It is a good idea
to start by narrowing down the choices on the
basis of errors in sentence structure and
grammar, and then use punctuation to make
your selection between the remaining choices.
For instance, if the choices offer you a list of
items or actions, first check for parallel
construction and look for correct use of serial
commas.
o Don’t forget that NO CHANGE is correct a
little less than a quarter of the time. If you
can’t find anything wrong with the underlined
portion, it may be correct as written.
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