ACT English: Knowledge of Language

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Questions that review the test taker's knowledge of language are 15-17% of the ACT. These types of questions should demonstrate your ability to use effective language through concise word choice and the correct application of style and tone. Knowledge of language questions will often ask you to improve the effectiveness of a piece of writing by substituting or deleting a couple of words or a sentence. Like the other categories in the English section, these questions will refer to a passage.

In writing, tone is the author's attitude towards either their audience or the subject of their writing. The tone of your piece can help determine the style (the specific use of syntax, word choice, and other rhetorical devices) in which your piece should be written. For the ACT, most style or tone questions will include the words “attitude,” “tone,” “style,” “feeling,” etc. When answering these questions, your first step is to try and figure out the tone of the writing. In order to do this, examine certain words and think about their positive and negative connotations. Additionally, look closely at the punctuation. Usually, science articles will be neutral in tone, while humanities and social sciences articles can have different tones depending on whether they are agreeing or disagreeing with the chosen topics. The tone of prose fiction can vary greatly so make sure you are using your strategies to analyze the text! Besides genre, the type of writing can help you figure out the tone and style of the passage as well. Once the tone has been analyzed, read the answer choices and see which one best fits with the already established tone. Even if tone or style is not specifically mentioned, each answer in the English section should be consistent with the already established tone and style.

In accordance with style and tone, your word choice should be appropriate to the audience and purpose of the passage. One of the most important skills for choosing the correct words on the ACT is knowing the connotations of words. Words can have positive, negative, and neutral connotations. Additionally, look out for words that seem like synonyms but have different characteristics. To approach these questions, first read through the sentence and try to place your own word in the blank. Then look through the answer choices and see which word has the meaning most like your own word that you just placed in your sentence. Context is key!

When answering questions within the ACT English section, it is important to note that the best answer choice oftentimes says what needs to be said in a shorter way without losing meaning. While we often think that using more words makes the piece of writing more sophisticated, that is not necessarily true. Make sure you review the text for repeated words or ideas and synonyms, unnecessary information, and duplicated sentences. Answers that include redundancies should not be considered. Clarity is also important when considering answer choices on the ACT. Always make sure that the author's main idea is being addressed correctly and in an organized fashion. Make sure your answer choices follow a logical path of reasoning and sticks to the author's main points.

A few months ago, a field trip to my local aquarium sparked 1. a fascination with my new favorite marine animal the cuttlefish. I entered the aquarium with the sole intention of spending my entire day at the far end of the aquarium, parked in front of the shark tanks. But while I was wandering back 2. towards the big shark tanks at the far end of the aquarium, I paused for a moment by the cuttlefish. They were strange creatures, like squat little squids with intricate markings, looking like something from a science-fiction story. I resolved to learn as much as I could about them as soon as I got home 3. and could educate myself about them.

A. NO CHANGE

B. a compulsion to

C. an intrigue in

D. a tendency towards.

This question falls under our category of word choice, and in this case the question is asking us between words that are mostly similar but have different characteristics that might not match the context of the sentence. Due to the fact that "NO CHANGE" can be a valid answer choice, we can first ask ourselves "Is there anything wrong with the original phrase?" Grammatically the original phrase works and the word choice conveys a clear message that makes sense in this context without any redundancies. However, we must still check every answer choice in order to find the BEST answer. For B, "a compulsion to" makes it sound like the author feel forced to love the new marine animal, which does not make sense as the passage suggests the love was accidental. For C, "an intrigue in" makes the situation sound mysterious, which does not fit the tone of the passage. For D, " a tendency towards" says that the author is leaning towards favoring a marine animal, which does not make sense because the author already made up her mind. These three answer choices do not make any sense, and therefore the correct answer is "NO CHANGE".

F. NO CHANGE

G. toward the far end of the aquarium,

H. toward the big shark tanks,

J. there,

This question falls under the category of redundancy. The passage already mentions that the author was "at the far end of the aquarium" near "the shark tanks" and therefore the existing phrase is redundant and incorrect. G and H once again mention "the far end" and "shark tanks", so the only correct answer is J, which does not repeat any information already said.

A. NO CHANGE

B. and could learn more about them.

C. and had the opportunity to ream more at home.

D. DELETE the underlined portion (ending the sentence with a period)

This question also helps us to practice eliminating redundancy. The author already mentions that they wanted to "learn" about the cuttlefish "at home" and therefore the existing phrase is wrong. Answers B and C also mention these phrases, so the best answer choice is D, which gets rid of the redundancies.

Practice Text and Questions from A-List Education

The most important thing to remember in this topic is that oftentimes the shorter answer is the right answer. If it's concise, matches the tone and style of the author, and fits grammatically then it is probably correct. Though the answer choices for these questions can seem very similar at first, as you practice you will see the difference between an answer that may seem correct but is too long or does not have the right tone and one that communicates effectively.