Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

V ICTORY P RACTICE T EST A NSWERS AND E XPLANATIONS • 447

17. (C) (p. 366) English/Conventions of Standard English/Sentence Structure . The error in the original is often described as a “double subject,” that is, both “they” and “all of them” (or even just “all”) could be the subject. But a sentence cannot have two subjects. (It can have a compound subject, but that is another matter.) (C) corrects the problem by providing one subject to go with the verb. (B) just makes matters worse, and as for (D), “those” is a demonstrative adjective that has nothing to modify. 18. (H) (p. 366) English/Conventions of Standard English/Grammar and Usage/Subject-Verb Agreement . The phrase ‹• ‡ŽŽ‹’–‹…ƒŽǡ –Šƒ– ‹•ǡ •‘‡ ™‘”†• Šƒ˜‡ „‡‡ Ž‡ˆ– ‘—–ǡ ƒ† –Š‡ ”‡ƒ†‡” ‹• ‡š’‡…–‡† –‘ ϐ‹ŽŽ ‹ –Š‡ „ŽƒǤ Š‹• ‹• ƒ ’‡”ˆ‡…–Ž› acceptable practice in English—so long as the elliptical phrase is logically constructed. In this case, the writer means to say “but there are too many sights.” The writer would not say “but there are too much sights.” (H) makes the needed correction, but (J) does not. (G) tries to make the sentence correct, but the verb “is” does not agree with the plural “many.” 19. (B) (p. 366) English/Conventions of Standard English/Grammar and Usage/Nouns and Noun Clauses . This is a fairly subtle question because it asks about noun number, that is, whether the noun should be singular or plural. The noun ‹• ‘†‹ϐ‹‡† „› Dz–Š‡‹”ǡdz ™Š‹…Š ”‡ˆ‡”• –‘ Dz˜‹•‹–‘”•ǡdz •‘ –Š‡ ƒ—–Š‘” ‹• –ƒŽ‹‰ ƒ„‘—– ‘”‡ –Šƒ ‘‡ Ž‹•–Ǥ ƒ…Š ’‡”•‘ Šƒ• ƒ list, but taken as a group, the visitors have lists (plural). (B) eliminates the inconsistency between the plural “visitors” ƒ† –Š‡ •‹‰—Žƒ” DzŽ‹•–Ǥdz Š‡ ‡ƒ‹‰ ‘ˆ DzŽ‹•–‹‰ǡdz ™Š‡–Š‡” •‹‰—Žƒ” ‘” ’Ž—”ƒŽǡ †‘‡•ǯ– ϐ‹– ™‹–Š –Š‡ ƒ—–Š‘”ǯ• ‹–‡†‡† meaning. 20. (J) (p. 366) English/Knowledge of Language/Style/Conciseness . The original is needlessly repetitious. In the context of this sentence, “walking” and “on foot” have the same meaning. (G) and (H) are just not idiomatic. 21. (C) (p. 366) English/Conventions of Standard English/Sentence Structure/Faulty Parallelism . Elements of a sentence that have similar functions need to have similar forms; that is, they should look like one another. Here you have a •‡”‹‡•ǣ ƒ†‹”‡ „—‹Ž†‹‰•ǡ •—”˜‡› ”‹˜‡”ˆ”‘–ǡ ƒ”‡ ™ƒ–…Š‹‰ „‘ƒ– –”ƒˆϐ‹…Ǥ Š‡ –Š‹”† ‡Ž‡‡– •–‹…• ‘—– Ž‹‡ ƒ •‘”‡ –Š—„Ǥ “Watch” brings the element into line: admire, survey, and watch. 22. (F) (p. 366) English/Conventions of Standard English/No Change . The original shows the correct use of the apostrophe to create a possessive. The word is singular, so use the rule “Add an apostrophe and an ‘s.’” 23. (A) (p. 366) English/Production of Writing/Strategy/Effective Transitional Sentence . This item asks you to select a transitional word that express the logical relationship between the sentence introduced by the underlined word and the preceding group of sentences. The writer has just listed all of the disadvantages of visiting Liberty Island and proposes the Staten Island Ferry as an alternative. So “instead,” (A), correctly expresses the logical relationship. Dz ‘™‡˜‡”ǡdz ȋ Ȍǡ ‹• —•‡† –‘…”‡ƒ–‡ ƒ…‘–”ƒ•–ǡ „—– ‹–• ‡ƒ‹‰ †‘‡•ǯ– ϐ‹– Š‡”‡Ǥ ‡”‡ ›‘— ‡‡† –Š‡ ‹†‡ƒ ‘ˆ ƒ ƒŽ–‡”ƒ–‹˜‡ or substitute. “Subsequently,” (C), is used to describe an event that is later in time to an event that actually occurs, but in this case, “taking the Liberty Island Ferry” does not occur. Finally, though the visitor might be surprised, (D), to learn about the substitution, the writer is not because the switch has been part of the plan all along. 24. (J) (p. 367) English/Production of Writing/Strategy/Appropriate Supporting Material . One of the themes treated by the writer is cost: NYC is expensive, the ferry to Liberty Island is costly, lunch in the park is cheap, etc. So it would be appropriate for the writer to mention the cost of the Staten Island Ferry. And the position of the sentence is particularly suitable since the cost of the ticket is the last factor mentioned in connection with the trip to Liberty Island. 25. (B) (p. 367) English/Knowledge of Language/Vocabulary . Sometimes test questions have stems that are entirely formal, for example, “What is the value of x ?” You’ll see this stem, or some variation thereon, in the math section. The stem itself is suitable for almost any question that asks about x as an unknown. But sometimes the stem provides additional guidance for choosing the correct answer. Pay careful attention to such information. In this case, the stem asks for “sensory detail,” so you need a choice that conveys information that suggests a physical feeling: warm and sunny. 26. (G) (p. 367) English/Conventions of Standard English/Sentence Structure . The logical and grammatical structure of the original is broken. The -ing form suggests an adjective, but the phrase does not modify anything. The problem could be corrected by using a main verb as (J) suggests, but “so” is not the right conjunction for the job. (H) seems to say that the writer and visitors take a restroom break while at the same time they are going on to the next attraction. (G) is an improvement. (G) uses the -ing form as a gerund or noun that is the object of the preposition “before” and the prepositional phrase is used as an adverb showing time to modify “make.”