Transcript Document 7893343

Nerdy ACT English Stuff
Ooooh! Fun!
Test Breakdown
• 5 Passages; 75 Questions; 45 Minutes
– 15 questions per passage
– Average 9 minutes per passage
• Usage/Mechanics (40 Questions)
– Punctuation (10); Grammar/Usage (12);
Sentence Structure (18)
• Rhetorical Skills (35 Questions)
– Writing (12); Organization (11); Style (12)
General Test Strategies
• Don’t waste time reading the
directions.
• Read the entire selection—don’t just
skip to the underlined portions.
• Pace yourself! You have about 36
seconds per question.
• Look at all answer choices—determine how they
are different.
• Be active with the test—cross out incorrect
answers.
• If there are two grammatically correct answers
choose the most concise (KISS).
• Make sure your answer doesn’t change the
meaning of the sentence.
• The NO CHANGE choice is not any
more likely to be correct.
• The OMIT choice is statistically more
likely to be correct.
• Guessing doesn’t count against you,
so don’t leave any questions blank!
Get ready to try your hand at
SOME PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Punctuation
Understand conventions of all punctuation and
relate punctuation to meaning.
• Commas, Colons, Semi-colons
– Semi-colons connect two complete thoughts
– Colons are used to represent the phrase “as follows”
For example, the chili used extensively in the Southwest
is the Anaheim pepper, it’s fairly mild, with an SHU rating
of 1,000 to 3,500.
A. NO CHANGE
B. pepper; its
C. pepper, its
D. pepper: it’s
Punctuation (cont.)
• Apostrophes: plural vs. possessive
The doctrine was derived from the Neoplatonists who
revived the teachings of Pythagoras.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Neoplatonists that
C. Neoplatonist’s that
D. Neoplatonist’s who
Punctuation (cont.)
• Parentheses separate related, nonessential information.
You can try to make a case for chocolate as a major food
group (I’ve tried for years), or for getting your
Recommended Dietary Allowance of calcium other ways.
A. NO CHANGE
B. group I’ve tried for years,
C. group, I’ve tried for years
D. group; I’ve tried for years,
Grammar/Usage
Understand the agreement and proper use of
major elements of the sentence.
• Understand agreement between subject and
verb
An audience of thousands of expectant people who have
come from afar to listen to live music in an outdoor
setting seem terrifying to a nervous performer.
A. NO CHANGE
B. seems
C. have seemed
D. to seem
• Agreement between pronoun and antecedent.
– Singular: --body, --one, --thing, each, another, either,
much
– Plural: both, few, many, most, several
Anyone who wants to be famous can get their name
in the news.
A. NO CHANGE
B. his name
C. they’re names
D. their names
• Avoid low level word choices and confusing/
wordy phrases
The artists had hidden a profound meaning behind
the literal and wished nature to be a moral lesson to
man.
A. NO CHANGE
B. meaning which was behind
C. Meaning being behind
D. meaning behind and in back of
Style
Understand appropriate use of words and
images, maintain consistent style and tone,
and avoid ambiguity, wordiness, and
redundancy.
The “Pennysylvania Dutch” came to settle the area.
The German settlers made important contributions.
One of the important contributions made by these
German settlers to frontier life was the Pennsylvania
rifle.
-What would you do with the underlined sentence?
• Active and Passive Voice
– A  The dog bit the boy.
– P  The boy was bitten by the dog.
The students were bored into a stupor by the long,
rambling grammar PowerPoint.
The long, rambling grammar PowerPoint bored the
students into a stupor.
Sentence Structure
Understand relationships between and among
clauses, placement of modifiers, and shifts in
construction.
• Misplaced Modifiers
The corn was roasted by the boys skewered on
the ends of long pointy sticks.
A. NO CHANGE
B. The corn skewered on the ends of long pointy
sticks was roasted by the boys.
C. The boys roasted the corn skewered on the ends
of long pointy sticks.
D. The boys, skewered on the ends of long pointy
sticks, roasted the corn.
Sentence Structure (cont.)
• Parallel Structure: same grammatical
tense and form within a sentence
Delinquents are defined as those who violate laws,
disobeyed authority, or behave in ways that
endanger the safety or morals of the community.
A. NO CHANGE
B. disobeying
C. disobedient
D. disobey
Strategy
Recognize an essay’s purpose and coherence.
• Opening, transitional, and closing statements.
– However= contrast; Furthermore=addition;
Therefore=cause/effect.
• Judging the effect of adding, revising, or deleting
supporting material.
– Providing interpretation of a statement, clarifying a
general statement with examples, furthering an
argument with information and logical reasoning,
quoting an expert on the issue.
Organization
Understand how to organize ideas and judge
the relevance of statements in context.
• Topic sentences=main idea; Rest of
paragraph=supporting details; Closing
sentence=summary and connection to thesis.
• Patterns: chronological, compare/contrast,
illustration, definition, classification, cause/effect
More Practice
Open up your test booklet to the first English
practice test.
You will have 9 minutes to complete the first
passage.
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Good Luck