We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

ACT English 1.3 Passage Drill 246 Views


Share It!


Description:

ACT English: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 3. Keeping an eye out for wordiness.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by average people.

00:08

Because the above average people are busy doing more important things.

00:25

How would you correct this underlined segment from the passage, if at all?

00:29

for a person who is average?

00:34

The question asks us to keep an eye out for wordiness.

00:36

Sentences that make use of too many words in order to relate the meaning that they would

00:40

like to convey to their intended audience can sometimes be hard to follow and annoying

00:44

to listen to for the audience for which they are intended because...

00:48

OK, we'll stop.

00:51

Choices (A) and (D) are first on the chopping block, since both are guilty of wordiness.

00:55

"For a person who is average" and "when a person is average" both use too many words

01:00

to get across a relatively simple idea.

01:03

Remember, whenever possible, simpler is better.

01:05

Choices (B) and (C) both keep it simple by using "average person."

01:10

Though they may agree on this, they disagree on the use of the words "for" and "to."

01:16

(B) claims that "to the average person" is correct, while (C) says "for the average person" is the way to go.

01:23

It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether "for" or "to" is right in a sentence.

01:27

We think of it like this: The passage is stating that plant classification is a difficult subject

01:32

for the average person to understand.

01:35

If it's rephrased in that way, "for" is the only word that fits. Therefore, we know that

01:39

(C) is the correct answer.

01:40

By the way, we chose a guy at random on the street, and he couldn't classify plants at

01:44

all. So, in our experience, this totally holds true.

Up Next

ACT English 2.2 Punctuation
2071 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 2. Where should the semi-colon be placed?

Related Videos

ACT English 3.1 Punctuation
1067 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 1. How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

ACT English 3.2 Punctuation
974 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 2. How should we properly hyphenate the words in this sentence?

ACT English 3.4 Punctuation
524 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 4. Which choice best formats this list of items?

ACT English 2.1 Punctuation
520 Views

ACT English: Punctuation Drill 2, Problem 1. Which choice of punctuation best completes the sentence?