Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

58 • E NGLISH

Passage II

Diary of a Black Hole [1] In the course of billions of years, millions of stars may sometimes occasionally become concentrated in a region, or regions, only a 18

18. F. NO CHANGE G. sometimes, occasionally H. occasionally J. off and on 18. (H) English/Knowledge of Language/Style/ Conciseness The original sentence is incorrect because it is redundant—“sometimes” and “occasionally” have the same meaning. (G) fails for the same reason. (J) is wrong because the phrase “off and on” does not have an appropriate meaning in this sentence. 19. A. NO CHANGE B. colliding C. and in these crowded conditions, they collide D. which causes them to collide 19. (C) English/Conventions f Standard English/Grammar and Usage/Nouns and Noun Clauses The original sentence is incorrect because the material following the comma lacks a conjugated verb. A conjugated verb is needed because the material after the comma has no logical connection to anything that comes before the comma; this material must therefore stand on its own in an independent clause. (C) solves the problem by providing a subject and a verb, thereby creating an independent clause. (B) is wrong because the material following the comma still has no logical relationship to the rest of the sentence. “Colliding” is the participle of “to collide” and seems to be an adjective. However, –Š‡”‡ ‹• ‘ ‘— ‹ –Š‡ ϐ‹”•– ’ƒ”– ‘ˆ –Š‡ sentence for “colliding” to modify. (D) suffers from a similar problem. “Which” is a relative pronoun and needs an antecedent. 20. F. NO CHANGE G. will occur H. to occur J. occur

few light years across, and in these crowded conditions colliding with one another. Some 19 19

of these collisions would occur at high speeds, in which case the stars are partially 20