Category Archives: English

ACT Question of the Day – October 4, 2014 – English, Verbs

Study hard, kids.I don’t often get to explain ACT questions anymore because they recycle so frequently!  Be sure to check the archives (using the links at the top or right) to find ACT tips and strategies.

Today’s question is about the underlined part of sentence 4:

[1] Then a vice president of Westinghouse,
looking for a way to make the transmission of radio
signals more profitable, decided on a two-fold
strategy. […] [4] The plan succeeded
beyond anyone’s expectations.

Is there anything wrong with this sentence?  Let’s take a look.

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ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 26, 2014 – English, Wordiness

Today’s ACT question of the day is an English question from the passage about baseball.  We’re asked to fix the underlined part of this sentence (only the first part of which is pasted below, because the final clause doesn’t affect us):

I was a freshman at a university that was located in the Midwest at the time,

There is nothing egregiously wrong with this sentence, but it could be better. Continue reading →

ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 6, 2014 – English

Today’s ACT question of the day is an English question from the baseball passage.  We’re asked to choose a transition sentence that will fit between paragraphs 1 and 2.

Paragraph one provides an anecdote about a baseball-obsessed teacher. The next paragraph talks about the appeal of baseball.  How can we link the two? Continue reading →

ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 2, 2014 – English

baseballToday’s ACT question of the day is from the English passage about baseball. We need to fix the underlined part of the sentence below (so ignore the other, non-underlined error).

When Hank Aaron stretched out a sinewy arm to pull one down, striding up to a rack of ash-hewn bats, he became a modern-day knight selecting their lance.

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ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 14, 2014 – English

Today’s ACT question of the day is another English question from the passage about radio. The writer has decided to add a sentence to the passage, and we have to choose where it will fit best.

The sentence:

Nowadays, no matter where you are, it’s hard to be far from a radio.

This sounds like the kind of sentence that either opens or concludes a passage as a whole – it’s broad, it ties the subject back to the present, and it serves somewhat to summarize the passage.

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ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 10, 2014 – English, Conjunctions

Today’s ACT question of the day is an English question from a passage about radio broadcasting in the 1920’s. (The photo is from the ’30s, so don’t be fooled. Also, did you know we wouldn’t have radio if it wasn’t for…bananas? True story.)

We need to know if we are transitioning correctly from idea to idea.  Our current transition word is “therefore”, but do we have the right relationship between ideas to support the use of that word?

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ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 6, 2014 – English, Transitions

baseballToday’s ACT question of the day wants us to add a sentence to the passage about baseball we saw recently.

The preceding sentence (the sentence before box 6) says:

Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Roberto Clemente—names like these will echo through time that are trumpet calls to storied battles fought and won in ages past.

The next (subsequent) sentence compares Hank Aaron to a legendary knight.  Continue reading →