ACT English Practice Test: Word Choice, Concision and Tone
- Word Choice, Concision and Tone
- 10 questions
- 10 minutes
These 10 questions follow one short essay, "The Library That Comes to Hollis," in order. Many of them test concision and style: when two choices are both grammatical, the ACT prefers the one that is shorter, clearer and fits the formal tone of the essay.
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.
Your result
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- 0 wrong
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Question 1
Every Tuesday, the county bookmobile returns back again to the parking lot of the Hollis General Store.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: C
"Returns" already means "comes back," so "back again" repeats the idea. "Returns back" is still redundant, and the last choice repeats it three times.
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Question 2
The driver, Marisol Vega, has run the route for eleven years and is totally obsessed with matching each reader with the right book.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: B
The essay is written in a clear, formal style, and "takes pride in" fits it. The original and the other two choices are slang that clashes with the rest of the essay.
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Question 3
Due to the fact that the nearest library branch is forty miles away, many families depend on the bookmobile.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: D
"Because" says the same thing as "due to the fact that" in one word. "Owing to the fact of how" is wordy and awkward, and "being as" is too informal for this essay.
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Question 4
Bad weather rarely effects the schedule; Vega has missed only four Tuesdays in eleven years.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: B
The sentence needs a verb meaning "influences," which is "affects." "Effect" is usually a noun, and "affect" without the -s does not agree with the singular subject "weather."
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Question 5
Children who visit in the morning hours before noon can join a story time on the grass beside the van.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: C
Morning hours are by definition before noon, so "in the morning" says everything needed. The other choices repeat the same idea in different words.
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Question 6
Many adult readers are interested in local history, so Vega keeps a shelf of county records and old photographs near the door.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: A
The standard idiom is "interested in." "Interested on," "interested about" and "interested for" are not used in standard English.
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Question 7
The bookmobile now lends more audiobooks then it did five years ago.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: C
A comparison after "more" needs "than." "Then" refers to time, and "that" and "as" do not complete a "more ... than" comparison.
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Question 8
When the county considered cutting the route last year, more than two hundred residents signed a petition to keep the thing going.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: B
"To keep the service running" is specific and matches the formal tone. "The thing" is vague, and "and stuff" and "and whatnot" are too casual for the essay.
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Question 9
The petition argued that the bookmobile was essential and necessary for residents who do not own cars.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: D
"Essential" and "necessary" mean nearly the same thing, so using both is redundant. One word is enough, and the other choices keep or add repetition.
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Question 10
In the end the board kept the route, and since then fewer families have had to make the long drive to the nearest branch.
Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
Correct answer: A
"Families" can be counted, so "fewer" is correct. "Less" and "a lesser amount of" are used for things that cannot be counted, such as time or water, and "lesser" means "lower in importance."
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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