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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.