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TRY A QUESTION. FOLLOW THE REASONING.
Sample questions with answers
Work out your answer first, then compare the explanation. This stable selection uses distinct task families across the available learning domains.
QUESTION 01Production of Writing
Match the detail to the writer’s purpose
Paragraph 1. A neighborhood seed library asks borrowers to put the plant name and harvest date on each packet. [[Two envelopes labeled “basil” contained seeds collected four years apart.]] The labels help volunteers decide which packets to test for germination first.
What is the main function of the sentence in brackets?
It explains how volunteers conduct a germination test.
It gives a concrete example of information the plant name alone leaves out.
It shows that the library requires borrowers to take only the newest seeds.
It explains why basil seeds lose their ability to germinate.
Answer: It gives a concrete example of information the plant name alone leaves out.
The paragraph explains why the library records two pieces of information. Compare the envelopes: the plant name is the same, while harvest dates differ.
That difference illustrates what the name alone cannot tell the volunteers. The last sentence connects the dates to the order of testing.
Compare the other answer choices
It explains how volunteers conduct a germination test.
The sentence gives ages for seed packets. It never describes a testing procedure.
It shows that the library requires borrowers to take only the newest seeds.
The age difference illustrates the use of dates. The paragraph does not impose a checkout rule.
It explains why basil seeds lose their ability to germinate.
No germination result or mechanism for declining germination appears in the sentence.
Paragraph 1. A repair clinic gives loaner bicycles to customers while their bikes are in the shop. [[Loaners are free of charge at no cost to customers who return them by Saturday.]] Customers who return them later pay a fee.
Which replacement for the bracketed sentence is most concise while preserving its meaning?
Loaners are free for customers who return them by Saturday.
Loaners are free for customers.
Loaners are free until Saturday.
Loaners are free for customers who bring them back before Saturday.
Answer: Loaners are free for customers who return them by Saturday.
Free of charge and at no cost express the same price. One instance of free is enough.
The phrase by Saturday defines who qualifies. Keeping the return condition and the same inclusive deadline preserves the fact that late returns carry a charge.
Compare the other answer choices
Loaners are free for customers.
This drops the return deadline and implies the loan is free even after Saturday.
Loaners are free until Saturday.
This describes when the price changes. The original specifies a condition tied to when each customer returns the bicycle.
Loaners are free for customers who bring them back before Saturday.
Before Saturday excludes returns on Saturday. The original deadline includes Saturday.
Reference basis: Purdue OWL: Eliminating Words. These are original learning questions, not questions reproduced from the references.
QUESTION 03Conventions of Standard English
Find the clause before editing the sentence
Paragraph 1. Dev examined a set of stained glass panels before photographing one of them.
Which continuation makes it clear that Dev was holding the panel against the light while noticing a crack?
Holding the panel against the light, a thin crack became visible to Dev.
Holding the panel against the light, the camera helped Dev see a thin crack.
As Dev photographed a thin crack, the panel was moved toward the light.
Holding the panel against the light, Dev noticed a thin crack.
Answer: Holding the panel against the light, Dev noticed a thin crack.
The opening action phrase does not name its actor. In this construction, the following main subject supplies the actor.
Dev is the subject of noticed, so the same person holds the panel and notices the crack. Naming Dev later in the sentence would not make him the main subject.
Compare the other answer choices
Holding the panel against the light, a thin crack became visible to Dev.
The main clause is about a crack. This attaches the opening action to the crack rather than to Dev.
Holding the panel against the light, the camera helped Dev see a thin crack.
The main subject is the camera, even though Dev is the person named later in the sentence.
As Dev photographed a thin crack, the panel was moved toward the light.
This leaves the actor of moved unnamed and replaces noticing the crack with photographing it.
Reference basis: Purdue OWL: Dangling Modifiers. These are original learning questions, not questions reproduced from the references.
QUESTION 04Production of Writing
Connect ideas and place sentences where they belong
Paragraph 1. The volunteer crew installed a larger sign because the small one was hard to read from the street. During daylight, the new sign was easy to read from the street. [[____]] at night it remained hard to see because the entrance had no lamp.
Which phrase most clearly signals how the last sentence relates to the preceding sentence?
For that reason,
For example,
In the same way,
Even so,
Answer: Even so,
The previous sentence gives a favorable result. The next sentence identifies a condition under which that success does not carry over.
Even so tells the reader to expect a qualification or contrast. It leaves the reason for the nighttime problem with the missing lamp.
Compare the other answer choices
For that reason,
This would imply that street readability caused the difficulty at night. The paragraph gives missing lighting as the cause.
For example,
The difficulty at night qualifies the favorable observation. It does not illustrate the sign’s readability.
In the same way,
The two observations have opposite outcomes, so similarity would mislead the reader.
Use punctuation to show clause and phrase boundaries
Paragraph 1. The depot’s only water tank is already identified. The writer wants to add its shape as a brief aside. The sentence says that the tank holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
Which version correctly sets off the aside with commas?
The depot’s only water tank a tall steel cylinder, holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
The depot’s only water tank, a tall steel cylinder holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
The depot’s only water tank a tall steel cylinder holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
The depot’s only water tank, a tall steel cylinder, holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
Answer: The depot’s only water tank, a tall steel cylinder, holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
The depot has one water tank. The reader can identify it before learning that it is a cylinder.
The middle phrase adds a description that can be set aside. Use both commas so that the main subject and verb read directly together when the aside is removed.
Compare the other answer choices
The depot’s only water tank a tall steel cylinder, holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
This marks only the end. The beginning of the optional description also needs a comma.
The depot’s only water tank, a tall steel cylinder holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
This marks only the start. A second comma is needed before the sentence returns to holds.
The depot’s only water tank a tall steel cylinder holds enough water for both cleaning bays.
With no punctuation, the additional noun phrase is left without a boundary between the subject and verb.
Paragraph 1. The writer is describing current routines. “The stack of spare towels [[needs / need]] a label. The lockers by the entrance [[needs / need]] new numbers.”
Which pair of verbs completes the two sentences in that order?
needs; need
need; needs
needs; needs
need; need
Answer: needs; need
For the first blank, the stack is the subject and of spare towels tells what is in it. Stack is singular, so use needs.
For the second blank, the subject is lockers. By the entrance gives their location. Since lockers is plural, use need. Checking both heads prevents the nearer noun from determining agreement.
Compare the other answer choices
need; needs
This pair follows the closer nouns towels and entrance rather than the subjects stack and lockers.
needs; needs
Needs agrees with stack. The second subject, lockers, is plural and takes need.
need; need
Need agrees with lockers. The first subject, stack, is singular and takes needs.
Paragraph 1. For a school exhibit about tactile maps, a student writes that the map’s raised paths help visitors trace routes by touch. The student wants the next sentence to show a visitor following a route without relying on sight.
Which sentence best meets that goal?
Several visitors said the thicker lines were easier to see from across the display.
A visitor asked how the school had printed the lettering on the map.
A visitor identified the map’s paper texture by rubbing the corner with one finger.
With her eyes closed, a visitor traced the raised path from the entrance to the fountain.
Answer: With her eyes closed, a visitor traced the raised path from the entrance to the fountain.
The stated goal requires a visitor to trace the route on the map without relying on sight.
The raised path between two named landmarks supplies the route. Tracing it with eyes closed demonstrates the stated ability.
Compare the other answer choices
Several visitors said the thicker lines were easier to see from across the display.
This describes visual recognition, which does not demonstrate touch-based navigation.
A visitor asked how the school had printed the lettering on the map.
A production question relates to the exhibit. It gives no example of following a route.
A visitor identified the map’s paper texture by rubbing the corner with one finger.
Touch is involved, but identifying a texture does not establish that the visitor followed a route.
Paragraph 1. A community observatory sends families a brief, welcoming message about an evening event. “Thanks for joining our sky watch. We’ll bring the telescopes and set them up near the gate. [[Participants are advised to furnish their own portable seating.]]”
Which replacement keeps the seating request and best matches the message’s friendly, plainspoken tone?
Attendees should provide their own chairs for the duration of the program.
Please bring a portable seat so you have a place to sit.
Drag along a chair unless you want to stand around all night.
We’ll set out chairs by the gate, so come whenever you like.
Answer: Please bring a portable seat so you have a place to sit.
The greeting, contraction and direct wording set a friendly tone. The replacement needs to preserve the request that families supply portable seating.
The direct request to bring a portable seat keeps the task with the reader and uses familiar language. An invitation can be both clear and welcoming.
Compare the other answer choices
Attendees should provide their own chairs for the duration of the program.
This preserves the request but uses the more institutional attendees, provide and duration of the program.
Drag along a chair unless you want to stand around all night.
This preserves the basic request, but drag along and stand around all night sound mocking rather than welcoming.
We’ll set out chairs by the gate, so come whenever you like.
This sounds friendly but reverses who supplies the seating and adds a scheduling instruction.
Paragraph 1. A workshop notice explains why an activity changed. “The pottery class moved indoors. [[Because the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.]]”
Which revision of both sentences keeps the original cause and makes the passage grammatically complete?
The pottery class moved indoors because the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
The pottery class moved indoors; because the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
Because the pottery class moved indoors, the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
The pottery class moved indoors, the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
Answer: The pottery class moved indoors because the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
Because signals that the drying clause gives a reason and depends on a main clause. The period makes that reason a fragment.
Attach the reason to the complete clause about the class moving indoors. This preserves both the standard sentence structure and the original direction of causation.
Compare the other answer choices
The pottery class moved indoors; because the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
A semicolon cannot make this because-clause stand on its own.
Because the pottery class moved indoors, the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
The grammar works, but this makes moving indoors the cause of the clay drying in the sun.
The pottery class moved indoors, the clay kept drying too quickly in the sun.
Removing because makes both parts independent. A comma by itself does not join them.
Paragraph 1. The school reduced cafeteria waste after placing a share table near the exit. [[Before the table opened, staff weighed the discarded food at the end of each lunch period for two weeks.]] They used the same method for two weeks after it opened. The recorded weight dropped.
What would deleting the bracketed sentence mainly take away?
An explanation of how students were invited to use the share table.
A comparison of the results for two different schools.
The description of how staff established a baseline for the later measurements.
The conclusion that the weight went down after the table opened.
Answer: The description of how staff established a baseline for the later measurements.
The marked sentence gives the timing, duration, and procedure used to measure waste before the change.
The following sentence says staff repeated the same method. Without the bracketed sentence, the reader loses the basis for that comparison, even though the reported decrease remains.
Compare the other answer choices
An explanation of how students were invited to use the share table.
The sentence concerns measurement, without describing how students learned about the table.
A comparison of the results for two different schools.
The sentence describes one school before the table opened. No second school is mentioned.
The conclusion that the weight went down after the table opened.
The final sentence still reports the decrease. The deletion removes the method for the earlier period.
Original short editing tasks for selected Enhanced ACT English skills.
Read short passages, choose a revision, and use feedback to see which details make it work.
Four choices per question. Numbered text and square brackets mark the parts to read or edit.
10 public examples18 question variants in the studio18 task families
Review status: Independent educator review and learner calibration are pending. Use these selected foundation examples alongside the coverage map and current official references.
Start with the lesson linked to an unfamiliar topic, try a focused set in the practice studio, then return to the review cards. Your practice progress stays in this browser.
Catalog scope record: . This records the saved content mapping, not a guarantee that every external rule is current.
Each question includes its own short context. Use ACT’s official materials for full-length passage sets and pacing.
Practice results describe your answers in this set. Difficulty labels are editorial estimates. Educator review is pending.
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