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ACT English 2.11 Passage Drill
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ACT English: Passage Drill 2, Problem 11. Which of the following sentences would make the most effective transition?

ACT English 2.15 Passage Drill
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In this ACT English passage drill determine if the writer of the passage may or may not have achieved their proposed goal.

ACT English 3.2 Passage Drill
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ACT English: Passage Drill Drill 3, Problem 2. What would the paragraph lose if the writer omits the underlined phrase?

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ACT English 2.14 Passage Drill 180 Views


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Description:

In this ACT English drill question, figure out if the underlined section requires a correction or not.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by a miniature reenactment of Moby Dick.

00:08

Need we say more?

00:12

Check out the following passage and answer the question below.

00:26

How would you correct the following underlined portion from the passage? Does it need correcting at all?

00:39

This one requires us to find the correct introductory phrase for the sentence in question.

00:46

Having the wrong introductory phrase can throw a sentence out of whack.

00:52

These types of phrases are supposed to set the stage for the sentence to come,

00:56

and if they set the stage in a confusing way, nobody knows what’s going on.

01:00

Choice (A) is a good example of an introductory phrase gone wrong.

01:04

“Unwilling to accept the truth”

01:06

fails because the sentence doesn’t reference any truth that the writer is unwilling to accept.

01:11

The author is well aware that the cat hates bathing, but bathes it anyway.

01:14

Harsh, but necessary we suppose.

01:19

Choice (B) gives us the modifier “sympathizing,” which supposedly describes the way the author

01:24

feels as he or she washes the cat despite its protests. Unless the writer is some kind

01:29

of sadist, there’s a good chance that he or she does feel bad for the cat.

01:32

However, “sympathizing” doesn’t groove with the rest of the sentence. If the writer

01:36

were overwhelmed with sympathy, he or she would probably stop bathing the cat. Instead,

01:40

the author continues the hated bath. Hm, maybe he or she is a sadist.

01:45

Next, we’ll take a look at choice (C), which offers the phrase “feeling cowed.”

01:52

In case anybody is wondering, the word “cowed” has nothing to do with our bovine friends--unless

01:57

they’re being bullied by the big cow on the block.

02:01

When someone has been “cowed,” it means that they’ve been intimidated into submission.

02:06

This, of course, doesn’t describe the author’s disposition. The author is making this bath

02:10

happen even though the cat is putting up a serious fight.

02:13

The correct answer is (D). The phrase “refusing to accept defeat” sets us up to hear the

02:19

rest of the sentence, and it functions as a transition from the cat's extreme reaction

02:23

to the writer's own fairly drastic action of turning on the shower.

02:27

We could think of a few more drastic actions, but the Humane Society would probably disapprove.

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