Download ACT Sentence Sense Lessons

ACT Sentence Sense
Sentence Sense Questions on ACT
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Sentence sense questions test your understanding of how
words are combined to form clear, correct, and complete
sentences.
To be a complete, a sentence must have a subject and a
verb.
•
–
Clause: a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb.
•
–
Independent Clause: a complete sentence
•
–
Jan runs everyday.
Matt rides his bike to the park.
Dependent Clause: (fragment) a phrase that cannot stand alone and
“depends” on another clause for meaning/completion.
•
after Tim closes the door.
Types of Sentence Sense Questions
1. Sentence Structure: test your ability to recognize
whether a sentence expresses a complete thought
or whether too many thoughts are run together
incorrectly (run-ons).
2. Consistency: these questions require you to
understand how non-underlined verbs and
pronouns dictate the proper form of an underlined
verb or pronoun.
3. Word Order: test your ability to recognize difficult
phrase combination that lead to illogical
statements.
Sentence Structure Rules
1. A sentence must contain one independent
clause.
2. The –ing form of a verb cannot be used
without a helping verb.
Let’s look at some more examples…
Sentence Structure#1: Run-ons
• Run-on: Wayne planned his time carefully, he
finished his term paper a day early.
• Right: Wayne planned his time carefully, so he
finished his term paper a day early.
• Right: Wayne planned his time carefully; he finished
his term paper a day early.
• Right: Wayne planned his time carefully. He finished
his term paper a day early.
• Right: Because Wayne planned his time carefully, he
finished his term paper early.
Sentence Structure#1: Fragments
• Fragment: Although rain is predicted for
tonight.
• Sentence: Although rain is predicted for
tonight, we still plan to go camping.
• Fragment: That Samantha will play goalie.
• Sentence: The coach said that Samantha will
play goalie.
Sentence Structure Practice
•
•
Dependent Clause (Fragments):
Umbrellas, which people often forget in public
places, other portable items such as cameras and
cell phones.
a. NO CHANGE
b. Umbrellas, people often forget them in public places, and
in addition
c. People, who often forget umbrellas in public places,
along with
d. People often forget umbrellas in public places, along with
Sentence Structure #2: -ING
• Fragment: Lucinda and I going to the same
college.
• Sentence: Lucinda and I will be going to the
same college.
• Fragment: Deb playing in the band concert
tonight.
• Sentence: Deb will be playing in the band
concert tonight.
Sentence Structure Practice
•
•
Verb ending in –ING:
AS they prepared the dinner, Cindy and
Lauren finding, to their dismay, that they
had forgotten to purchase two ingredients.
a.
b.
c.
d.
NO CHANGE
Lauren, they found,
Lauren found,
Lauren, who found
Consistency Rule #1
• Verb Tense Consistency: The underlined verb
tense in a sentence must match the other
verb tenses in that sentence.
• Wrong: Before I can pack my suitcase, I still
needed to do some shopping.
• Right: Before I can pack my suitcase, I still
need to do some shopping.
Consistency Practice
•
•
Verb Tense Agreement:
Before he moved to Boston, the Alabama
native hardly imagines how cold a New
England winter actually could be.
a.
b.
c.
d.
NO CHANGE
Could have been imagining
Could have imagined
Will imagine
Consistency Rule #2
• Pronoun Consistency: When an underlined
segment includes a pronoun make sure it
clearly refers to another noun or pronoun in
the sentence.
• Wrong: A Politician should do everything they
can to improve the lives of their constituents.
• Right: Politicians should do everything they
can to improve the lives of their constituents.
Consistency Rule #2
• Correct the verb and pronoun tense problems:
Quite a bit of preparation is needed for a camping
trip. You must make sure that all your equipmenttent, sleeping bags, lanterns, and cookware-is in
good condition. Someone has to plan the menu and
decided when to do the shopping. Will you shop in
advance to buy everything you need before one
leaves home, packing the meat and dairy products in
a cooler? Or will one drive to the campground first
and purchase all of the food locally? Time is another
thing to think about. It was easier to choose a spot
and set up tents in daylight than it is in the dark
Consistency Practice
•
•
Pronoun Agreement:
While the librarian taught us some important
research skills that go into preparing a term paper,
very few students actually applied it.
a.
b.
c.
d.
NO CHANGE
Students actually applied them
Of the students, in fact, actually applied it
Students actually applied what it was they actually had
learned
Word Order
• Modifiers: a word or group of words that provide
information about another word in the sentence.
– Modifiers need to be placed close to the word they are
modifying.
– Wrong: Practicing diligently over the course of several
months, the audience was stunned by the excellent quality
of the school musical.
– Right: The audience was stunned by the excellent quality
of the school musical, which had practiced diligently over
the course of several months.
Word Order Rule
• A sentence that violates the word order rule usually
sounds confusing as if the sentence is scrambled:
• Wrong: Suddenly, when the baseball, holding the
expensive crystal glassware, was knocked to the
floor, the high shelf came crashing through the
window.
• Right: The high shelf holding the expensive crystal
glassware was knocked to the floor when the
baseball came suddenly crashing through the
window.
Word Order Practice
•
•
Make sure the modifiers are next to the word they
are modifying:
Exhausted after a stressful day at work, the fender
bender during the evening rush hour only added to
Susan’s frustration.
a. NO CHANGE
b. Frustration only increased for Susan as a result of the
fender bender during the evening rush hour
c. The evening rush hour led to a fender bender that only
increased Susan’s frustration
d. Susan became even more frustrated after the fender
bender during the evening rush hour.
Sentence Sense Answer Traps
• Dependent Clauses: Watch for words that introduce
dependent clauses and make sure there is an
independent clause in the sentence to support it.
• Words that introduce dependent clauses:
after
since
which
although
that
while
because
though
who
Before
unless
whoever
it
whereas
Sentence Sense Answer Traps
• Verbs ending in -ING: the test often uses a
verb ending in -ing without a helping verb.
– Wrong: Sammy going to the store to buy some
milk for baking.
– Right: Sammy was going to the store to buy some
milk for baking.
Sentence Sense Answer Traps
• Underlined Sentences: When an entire
sentence is underlined, occasionally, the NO
CHANGE option is correct.
• USUALLY a change will need to be made due
to incorrect word order or the sentence will
need to be OMITTED because it does not fit
with the paragraph.