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ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 3. Where does the semicolon fit best?
ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?
ACT English Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 3. Where should we place the apostrophe to properly indicate possession?
The Correct Form of Awake? 247 Views
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Description:
ACT English: Sentence Structure Drill 5, Problem 5. Which choice uses the correct form of "awake" for this sentence?
Transcript
- 00:04
Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by firemen, who are especially skilled at
- 00:08
climbing the ladder of success.
- 00:15
What should replace the underlined portion below, if anything?
- 00:19
A loud fire truck rushed by the house at midnight, and the whole family awaked.
- 00:35
Consistency often relies on verb form, so even though all the answer choices here are
Full Transcript
- 00:39
in some form of the past tense, they feature different forms of the verb "awake."
- 00:46
Our job is to sort through this identity crisis and find the form that fits the sentence.
- 00:51
We know that (B) is incorrect for sure because "awoken" can't exist without a helping verb
- 00:56
like "has" or "had."
- 00:58
We can say, "The dragon had awoken," or "The dragon has awoken," but "The dragon awoken,"
- 01:07
is gibberish.
- 01:08
The word "awoken" always needs a little help from its friends.
- 01:12
(D) isn't right because the helping verb "was" requires "awaking," the participle form of the verb.
- 01:18
"Was" and "awoke" don't make any sense together, at least, that's what their therapist told them.
- 01:23
(A) is incorrect because "awaked" is antiquated,
- 01:26
meaning that it's not a commonly used word anymore.
- 01:29
We've tried to make it popular again, but it feels like an uphill battle.
- 01:32
Sometimes you just can't fight the irresistible tide of public opinion.
- 01:36
So C has to be our correct answer.
- 01:39
"Awoke" is in the past tense and is consistent with the past tense verb "rushed," which appears
- 01:44
in the first part of the sentence.
- 01:45
Sure, "awaked" sounds more fun, but we wouldn't suggest testing the ire of those ACT test administrators.
- 01:52
You don't want to wake a sleeping dragon.
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