Tag Archives: past tense

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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SAT Question of the Day Explained – March 25, 2014 – Improving Sentences

Today’s SAT question of the day is an improving sentences question about chocolate chip cookies. The original sentence that we need to improve:

All of the ingredients for Pablo’s secret chocolate chip cookie recipe, which included the special dark chocolate, was available in his mother’s pantry.

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Today’s ACT Question of the Day Explained – January 25, 2014 – English, Verb Tenses

Mickey Mantle (credit: flickr user brokentaco)

Today’s ACT question of the day is an English question designed to prove me right when I say that verbs are the most frequently tested subject on the ACT English section (as well as on the SAT writing section).

The passage about Mickey Mantle is written in past tense and, indeed, the very sentence we are asked to fix is in the past tense (“…when glints of the afternoon sun shone…”).  We need to put “there will have to be seen for one brief, stirring moment the glimmer of jewels…” into a tense that is compatible with the past tense. Continue reading →