ACT English Practice Test: Production of Writing and Knowledge of Language
- Production of Writing and Knowledge of Language
- 12 questions
- 10 minutes
These 12 questions follow one short essay, "The Fastest Mail in the West," about the Pony Express of 1860-1861. They test organization and style: transitions, adding or deleting sentences, sentence order, the purpose of the essay, wordiness and tone. For add-or-delete questions, decide Yes or No first, then pick the reason that matches the paragraph's focus.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Letters crossing the country by stagecoach or by ship usually took several weeks to reach California. As a result, merchants and newspaper editors in San Francisco often made decisions based on news that was already out of date. In April 1860, a freight company offered a faster alternative: the Pony Express.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: A
Out-of-date news was a consequence of slow mail, so a cause-and-effect transition fits and the sentence is correct as written. "However" and "In contrast" signal a contrast that is not there, and the second sentence is not an example of the first.
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Question 2
Paragraph 1 (see question 1) ends with the sentence "In April 1860, a freight company offered a faster alternative: the Pony Express." At this point, the writer is considering adding the following true statement:
The new service aimed to carry mail between Missouri and California in about ten days.
Should the writer make this addition here?
Correct answer: B
The paragraph has said that mail took several weeks, and the added sentence gives the ten-day goal, so readers can see how much faster the Pony Express was supposed to be. The sentence states a goal, not how the riders reached it, and the ten-day figure has not appeared before.
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Question 3
The Pony Express was a relay of horseback riders who carried mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, a distance of roughly 1,900 miles in length.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: D
A distance is already a length, so "in length" repeats the idea; the concise version keeps only what is needed. "Roughly" and "about" say the same thing twice, and "long" adds nothing that the number does not already show.
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Question 4
[1] Speed depended on fresh horses. [2] At each station, a rider jumped from his tired horse onto a rested one and was back on the trail within a couple of minutes. [3] The company set up relay stations along the route, roughly every 10 to 15 miles. [4] After about 75 to 100 miles, he handed the mail to the next rider, who carried it on.
For the sake of logic and cohesion, Sentence 2 should be placed:
Correct answer: C
Sentence 2 refers to "each station," so it must follow Sentence 3, which introduces the relay stations. It must also come before Sentence 4, whose pronoun "he" needs "a rider" from Sentence 2 as its antecedent.
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Question 5
The mail itself traveled in a mochila, a leather cover with pockets that fit over the saddle and could be moved to a fresh horse in seconds.
At this point, the writer is considering adding the following true statement:
Today, many ranchers in the western United States still work with horses every day.
Should the writer make this addition here?
Correct answer: C
The paragraph explains how the Pony Express moved mail quickly, and a sentence about modern ranchers has nothing to do with that. The statement does not contradict anything in the essay; it is simply off topic.
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Question 6
The job demanded unusual stamina. Riders had to be light, tough and totally down for long hours alone on the trail, often in harsh weather.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: B
The essay's tone is formal and informative, so slang such as "totally down for" and "super into" does not fit, while "willing to spend" pairs naturally with "long hours." "Eager in long hours" is not idiomatic English.
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Question 7
Winter storms in the Sierra Nevada sometimes delayed the mail by several days.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: A
The storms slowed the mail, which is exactly what "delayed" means, so the sentence is correct as written. "Lingered," "hesitated" and "procrastinated" describe someone who waits or puts something off, and none of them can take "the mail" as an object.
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Question 8
Still, the riders could be remarkably fast. The quickest trip on record, which carried the text of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address in March 1861, took less than eight days.
If the writer were to delete the second sentence, the paragraph would primarily lose:
Correct answer: A
The first sentence claims the riders could be remarkably fast, and the record trip with Lincoln's address is the example that backs it up. The sentence says nothing about changing horses, dangers on the trail or profits.
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Question 9
Many riders later told stories about their days on the trail. In October 1861, workers completed the first telegraph line across the continent, and messages that had once taken days to deliver could now arrive in minutes.
Which choice most effectively introduces the main idea of this paragraph?
Correct answer: B
The paragraph is about the telegraph, which made the Pony Express unnecessary, so presenting the telegraph as a faster rival introduces it best. The original sentence and the other choices raise topics, such as riders' stories or the stations, that the paragraph never discusses.
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Question 10
Within a few days, the Pony Express ended its service and stopped operating, having run for only about eighteen months.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: D
Ending its service and stopping operations are the same thing, so the concise "shut down" is best. The other choices still say one idea twice, and "finishing its run" also repeats "having run" later in the sentence.
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Question 11
The service had lost money for its owners throughout its short life. Consequently, it captured the public imagination, and its story has been retold in books and films ever since.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: D
Becoming famous in spite of losing money is a contrast, so "Nevertheless" fits. "Consequently" wrongly suggests that the financial losses caused the fame.
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Question 12
Question 12 asks about the essay as a whole.
Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to compare the Pony Express with the way mail is delivered in the United States today. Would this essay accomplish that purpose?
Correct answer: C
The essay describes how the Pony Express began, worked and ended, and it never discusses modern mail delivery, so it makes no such comparison. It also never calls the telegraph less reliable; it presents the telegraph as the faster replacement.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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