All ACT English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1052 : Act English
Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold,
Undisturbed, till, spite of rust,
Truth is found in Trevlyn dust."
"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy. And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at."
Richard Trevlyn looked up with a smile and threw by the book, as if annoyed at being discovered reading it. Drawing his wife's hand through his own, he led her back to her couch, folded the soft shawls about her, and, sitting in a low chair beside her, said in a cheerful tone, though his eyes betrayed some hidden care, "My love, that book is a history of our family for centuries, and that old prophecy has never yet been fulfilled, except the 'heir and heiress' line. I am the last Trevlyn, and as the time draws near when my child shall be born, I naturally think of his future, and hope he will enjoy his heritage in peace."
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the passage. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at.
This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. "What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy. And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at."
NO CHANGE
"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard?" Not its poetry I fancy. And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at.
"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme." What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy. And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at.
"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at.
The best revision is, "This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, appeared the lines she laughed at.
Only the first three sentences of this paragraph are dialogue, and thus, they are the only three sentences that should be surrounded by quotation marks.
Example Question #711 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
"Where is my dog?" cried Susanna, frantically searching through the woods.
"Where is my dog? cried Susanna", frantically searching through the woods.
"Where is my dog,"? cried Susanna, frantically searching through the woods.
'Where is my dog'? Cried Susanna, frantically searching through the woods.
"Where is my dog,?" cried Susanna, frantically searching through the woods.
NO CHANGE
NO CHANGE
With a direct quotation, the quotation should be set off with double quotation marks. In the case of the quotation ending in a question mark, a comma is not necessary before transitioning to the rest of the sentence.
Example Question #719 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
“The Common Good: The United Aim of Many”
Among the many topics that are misunderstood in political science, and political philosophy, the notion of the “common good” ranks foremost. Often, we think of the common good as being nothing more than getting “the most things for the most people.” For example, when a person makes multiple millions of dollars, people will often say, “He should give back some of that money, for the sake of the common good.” Whether or not such people should do this with his money, this is really an improper use of the expression the common good.
A better way to understand the common good is to think about common ends or common goals. An example will help to explain this. Think of a group of musicians on a stage. If all of these people came together to practice in the same room, we wouldn’t call them a symphony. A mass of people just playing any music whatsoever are not a symphony. A symphony is an organized group; a mass of people is just a mass of people. Nothing physically differs regarding the mass of people and the symphony. They are both made up of the same “stuff,” namely a group of musicians.
However, a common good changes this mass into something that they never could be without that common good. When these musicians come together to play the Dies Irae of Mozart, they become something that they never were as individuals. Each member of the group uses his or her personal skill for the sake of a new, common performance. Perhaps the tuba player loves to play loudly. Perhaps the lead violinist loves playing quickly. These preferences must be channeled and limited for the sake of the common enterprise of playing Mozart’s stirring piece of music. The desires of the individual instrumentalists, whom play the music, no longer reigns supreme.
The common good unites this group. If you were to ask the tuba player, what are you doing, he would answer, “Taking part in the symphonic playing of the Dies Irae.” Then, if you were to ask any other musician the same question, he or she would answer in the same way. The answer would not be, “playing the Dies Irae my way.” If that were the answer, the musician would not be part of the symphony. He or she would be doing something private, not something that is truly common.
How should the underlined selection be changed?
improper use of the expression "the common good"
improper use of the "expression" the common good
improper use of the expression—the common good
NO CHANGE
improper use of the expression "the common good"
Notice that the sentence is referring to the expression. This means that "the common good" is really mean to indicate the very expression, not the concept's meaning. Therefore, you need to enclose it in quotes to indicate that you are talking about the words themselves and not only the notion of the common good.
Example Question #720 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
“The Common Good: The United Aim of Many”
Among the many topics that are misunderstood in political science, and political philosophy, the notion of the “common good” ranks foremost. Often, we think of the common good as being nothing more than getting “the most things for the most people.” For example, when a person makes multiple millions of dollars, people will often say, “He should give back some of that money, for the sake of the common good.” Whether or not such people should do this with his money, this is really an improper use of the expression the common good.
A better way to understand the common good is to think about common ends or common goals. An example will help to explain this. Think of a group of musicians on a stage. If all of these people came together to practice in the same room, we wouldn’t call them a symphony. A mass of people just playing any music whatsoever are not a symphony. A symphony is an organized group; a mass of people is just a mass of people. Nothing physically differs regarding the mass of people and the symphony. They are both made up of the same “stuff,” namely a group of musicians.
However, a common good changes this mass into something that they never could be without that common good. When these musicians come together to play the Dies Irae of Mozart, they become something that they never were as individuals. Each member of the group uses his or her personal skill for the sake of a new, common performance. Perhaps the tuba player loves to play loudly. Perhaps the lead violinist loves playing quickly. These preferences must be channeled and limited for the sake of the common enterprise of playing Mozart’s stirring piece of music. The desires of the individual instrumentalists, whom play the music, no longer reigns supreme.
The common good unites this group. If you were to ask the tuba player, what are you doing, he would answer, “Taking part in the symphonic playing of the Dies Irae.” Then, if you were to ask any other musician the same question, he or she would answer in the same way. The answer would not be, “playing the Dies Irae my way.” If that were the answer, the musician would not be part of the symphony. He or she would be doing something private, not something that is truly common.
How should the underlined selection be changed?
If you were to ask the tuba player, "What are you doing?" He
NO CHANGE
If you were to ask the tuba player, what are you doing. He
If you were to ask the tuba player, "What are you doing," he
If you were to ask the tuba player, "What are you doing," he
As written, the issue in this sentence is the lack of capitalization in the direct quotation. You cannot break up the sentence, for it begins with a subordinate clause introduced by "if." Therefore, all that you need to do is add quotes around "what are you doing" and then capitalize the word "What."
Example Question #691 : Punctuation Errors
“The Common Good: The United Aim of Many”
Among the many topics that are misunderstood in political science, and political philosophy, the notion of the “common good” ranks foremost. Often, we think of the common good as being nothing more than getting “the most things for the most people.” For example, when a person makes multiple millions of dollars, people will often say, “He should give back some of that money, for the sake of the common good.” Whether or not such people should do this with his money, this is really an improper use of the expression the common good.
A better way to understand the common good is to think about common ends or common goals. An example will help to explain this. Think of a group of musicians on a stage. If all of these people came together to practice in the same room, we wouldn’t call them a symphony. A mass of people just playing any music whatsoever are not a symphony. A symphony is an organized group; a mass of people is just a mass of people. Nothing physically differs regarding the mass of people and the symphony. They are both made up of the same “stuff,” namely a group of musicians.
However, a common good changes this mass into something that they never could be without that common good. When these musicians come together to play the Dies Irae of Mozart, they become something that they never were as individuals. Each member of the group uses his or her personal skill for the sake of a new, common performance. Perhaps the tuba player loves to play loudly. Perhaps the lead violinist loves playing quickly. These preferences must be channeled and limited for the sake of the common enterprise of playing Mozart’s stirring piece of music. The desires of the individual instrumentalists, whom play the music, no longer reigns supreme.
The common good unites this group. If you were to ask the tuba player, what are you doing, he would answer, “Taking part in the symphonic playing of the Dies Irae.” Then, if you were to ask any other musician the same question, he or she would answer in the same way. The answer would not be, “playing the Dies Irae my way.” If that were the answer, the musician would not be part of the symphony. He or she would be doing something private, not something that is truly common.
How should the underlined selection be changed?
The answer would not be playing the Dies Irae my way.
The answer would not be, “Playing the Dies Irae my way.”
The answer would not be “Playing the Dies Irae my way.”
NO CHANGE
The answer would not be, “Playing the Dies Irae my way.”
This error is just a simple matter of capitalization at the beginning of the quote. Any direct quotation requires that you capitalize its start. Therefore, replace the word "playing" with "Playing." That is all that is needed!
Example Question #1061 : Act English
“Democracy—Always a Good Thing?”
In the contemporary world, we tend to think that democracy is always the best form of government. We are enchanted by the idea of self-governance for it seems to affirm the maturity of the citizens of a nation. Instead of being ruled by benign-monarchs or the landed-aristocracy, the citizens of a democracy are people who exercise self-mastery in a fully human manner. Well, at least this is what we tend to think of the matter.
Really, however, democracy is an ambiguous affair. Often, we use such single terms to name two different types of social arrangements. Such an equivocation is understandable. Whenever all (or at least most) of the people take part in political life, it seems like we have a kind of democracy. However, it is important to make a clearer distinction.
On the one hand, there can be a community that aims at the common good. In such a group, the people come together to have a political community that aims to fulfill human goals that could not be done by isolated individuals. Such a group will come together to establish educational institutions to preserve culture, regulate commerce in order to help normalize economic interactions, pass many laws that regulate our social interactions, and undertake many other affairs. Although all of these things benefit the individuals in the given society, such a group of self-governing people do not aim merely at the private satisfaction of the people. This kind of “democracy” works together, for common political goals.
On the other hand, there can be a community that merely aims at the private goods of the citizens. The Greek philosopher Aristotle remarked in his text, the Politics, that democracy was a government by the numerous poor people for the sake of those same people’s private goods. Clearly, he was using “democracy” in this sense. If the people of a nation only come together in order to assure their own private freedom and to receive benefits for themselves, a given society is this kind of so-called democracy.
Of course, it is difficult to say what is the state of any particular nation today. Often, elements of each of these kinds of governance is found in a given country at a particular time. Still, it is important to be aware that such an “equivocation” is possible. Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
This kind of democracy does work
NO CHANGE
This kind of democracy works
This "kind of democracy" works
NO CHANGE
You need to read the passage as an intelligible whole to get this question correct. The point has been that the word "democracy" can actually be used for two very different realities. Thus, as the sentence is written, it is just trying to play off this notion of one word being used in two manners like this. Hence, it is saying that this kind of "democracy" acts for the common good (as opposed to the other kind of "democracy").
Example Question #1062 : Act English
“Democracy—Always a Good Thing?”
In the contemporary world, we tend to think that democracy is always the best form of government. We are enchanted by the idea of self-governance for it seems to affirm the maturity of the citizens of a nation. Instead of being ruled by benign-monarchs or the landed-aristocracy, the citizens of a democracy are people who exercise self-mastery in a fully human manner. Well, at least this is what we tend to think of the matter.
Really, however, democracy is an ambiguous affair. Often, we use such single terms to name two different types of social arrangements. Such an equivocation is understandable. Whenever all (or at least most) of the people take part in political life, it seems like we have a kind of democracy. However, it is important to make a clearer distinction.
On the one hand, there can be a community that aims at the common good. In such a group, the people come together to have a political community that aims to fulfill human goals that could not be done by isolated individuals. Such a group will come together to establish educational institutions to preserve culture, regulate commerce in order to help normalize economic interactions, pass many laws that regulate our social interactions, and undertake many other affairs. Although all of these things benefit the individuals in the given society, such a group of self-governing people do not aim merely at the private satisfaction of the people. This kind of “democracy” works together, for common political goals.
On the other hand, there can be a community that merely aims at the private goods of the citizens. The Greek philosopher Aristotle remarked in his text, the Politics, that democracy was a government by the numerous poor people for the sake of those same people’s private goods. Clearly, he was using “democracy” in this sense. If the people of a nation only come together in order to assure their own private freedom and to receive benefits for themselves, a given society is this kind of so-called democracy.
Of course, it is difficult to say what is the state of any particular nation today. Often, elements of each of these kinds of governance is found in a given country at a particular time. Still, it is important to be aware that such an “equivocation” is possible. Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Still, it is important to be aware that such "equivocations" are possible
Still, it is important to be aware that such "an equivocation" is possible
Still, it is important to be aware that such an equivocation is possible
NO CHANGE
Still, it is important to be aware that such an equivocation is possible
The word "equivocation" is merely being used in its proper sense. An equivocation is committed when someone uses one word to indicate two meanings that are different. In the sentence, the author is merely discussing equivocation as such. There is no need to use quotation marks whenever you are discussing matters in a direct manner like this.
Example Question #1063 : Act English
“Democracy—Always a Good Thing?”
In the contemporary world, we tend to think that democracy is always the best form of government. We are enchanted by the idea of self-governance for it seems to affirm the maturity of the citizens of a nation. Instead of being ruled by benign-monarchs or the landed-aristocracy, the citizens of a democracy are people who exercise self-mastery in a fully human manner. Well, at least this is what we tend to think of the matter.
Really, however, democracy is an ambiguous affair. Often, we use such single terms to name two different types of social arrangements. Such an equivocation is understandable. Whenever all (or at least most) of the people take part in political life, it seems like we have a kind of democracy. However, it is important to make a clearer distinction.
On the one hand, there can be a community that aims at the common good. In such a group, the people come together to have a political community that aims to fulfill human goals that could not be done by isolated individuals. Such a group will come together to establish educational institutions to preserve culture, regulate commerce in order to help normalize economic interactions, pass many laws that regulate our social interactions, and undertake many other affairs. Although all of these things benefit the individuals in the given society, such a group of self-governing people do not aim merely at the private satisfaction of the people. This kind of “democracy” works together, for common political goals.
On the other hand, there can be a community that merely aims at the private goods of the citizens. The Greek philosopher Aristotle remarked in his text, the Politics, that democracy was a government by the numerous poor people for the sake of those same people’s private goods. Clearly, he was using “democracy” in this sense. If the people of a nation only come together in order to assure their own private freedom and to receive benefits for themselves, a given society is this kind of so-called democracy.
Of course, it is difficult to say what is the state of any particular nation today. Often, elements of each of these kinds of governance is found in a given country at a particular time. Still, it is important to be aware that such an “equivocation” is possible. Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or “democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “Democracy is a horrible form of government.”
NO CHANGE
Otherwise, we will end up saying rather foolish things like, “Democracy is always a good form of government,” or, “Democracy is a horrible form of government.”
Whenever you have direct quotations, as you do in this sentence, you must place a comma before the quotation and capitalize the first word of the quotation. As written, the sentence does not capitalize the beginning of the second quotation.
Example Question #721 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
"You spent all day "working" on your outfit while I shoveled the snow," Sally accused angrily.
You spent all day "working" on your outfit while I shoveled the snow, Sally accused angrily.
'You spent all day 'working' on your outfit while I shoveled the snow,' Sally accused angrily.
NO CHANGE
"You spent all day 'working' on your outfit while I shoveled the snow," Sally accused angrily.
"You spent all day 'working' on your outfit while I shoveled the snow," Sally accused angrily.
When you have a quotation inside a quotation, you must use a different quotation mark.
For example, if you have double quotation marks (") on the outside, then you will use single (') quotation marks on the inside, and vice versa.
Example Question #722 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
"You're going to have to pass through the forest if you want to get to the town before nightfall" said shopkeeper at the entrance to town.
NO CHANGE
'You're going to have to pass through the forest if you want to get to the town before nightfall'
"You're going to have to pass through the forest if you want to get to the town before nightfall;"
"You're going to have to pass through the forest if you want to get to the town before nightfall,"
"You're going to have to pass through the forest if you want to get to the town before nightfall,"
The quoted sentence is a statement attributed to the shopkeeper, who is listed after the quote. It is grammatically correct to separate these clauses with a comma that comes before the quotation mark.