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About ACT Exam
English Sample Questions
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Click on the letter
choices to determine if you have
the correct answer and
for question explanations.
(An actual ACT
English Test contains 75 questions
to be answered in 45
minutes.) |
| DIRECTIONS: In
the passage that follows, certain words and phrases are underlined and
numbered. In the right-hand column, you will find alternatives for the
underlined part. In most cases, you are to choose the one that best expresses
the idea, makes the statement appropriate for standard written English, or is
worded most consistently with the style and tone of the passage as a whole.
If you think the original version is best, choose "NO CHANGE." In
some cases, you will find in the right-hand column a question about the
underlined part. You are to choose the best answer to the question. |
You will also find
questions about a section of the passage, or about the passage as a whole.
These questions do not refer to an underlined portion of the passage, but
rather are identified by a number or numbers in a box.
For each question,
choose the alternative you consider best and fill in the corresponding oval
on your answer document. Read the passage through once before you begin to
answer the questions that accompany it. For many of the questions, you must
read several sentences beyond the question to determine the answer. Be sure
that you have read far enough ahead each time you choose an alternative. |
Bessie
Coleman: In Flight
[1] |
|
After 
practice landing, the French instructor nodded to the
young African-American woman at the controls and
jumped down to the ground. Bessie Coleman was on |
1. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
one
finally ultimate |
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C. |
one
final |
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D. |
one
last final |
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her own now. She lined  the nose of
the open |
2. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE
|
| |
G. |
off |
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H. |
along |
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J. |
OMIT
the underlined portion.
|
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cockpit biplane on the runway's center  gave
the engine full throttle, and took off into history.
[2]
It was a long
journey from the American |
3. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
mark, |
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C. |
mark,
Coleman |
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D. |
mark
that |
|
 born in 1893, to these French
skies. |
4. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
| |
G. |
Southwest
that she'd been |
| |
H. |
Southwest,
where she'd been |
| |
J. |
Southwest,
she was
|
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There hadn't been much of a future for her in Oklahoma |
5. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
It
is now just about a century since the year of her birth. |
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C. |
Just
about a century has passed since the year of her birth. |
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D. |
OMIT
the underlined portion. |
The best answer is D. The most appropriate decision is to
delete the information-presented in Choices A, B, and C in different
phrasings-that Bessie Coleman was born about a century ago. This information
is a mere digression in terms of the focus or development of this essay. It
sidetracks the readers. Besides, it provides information that readers could
easily infer on their own, since they are told in the previous sentence that
Coleman was born in 1893. |
then. After 
at Langston Industrial College, Coleman headed for
Chicago to see what could be done to realize a dream.
Ever since she saw her first airplane when she was
a little girl, Coleman had known that someday, somehow,
she would fly.
[3]
Try as she might,
however, Coleman could
not obtain flying lessons anywhere in the city. Then |
6. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
| |
G. |
a
year |
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H. |
a
year like two full semesters |
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J. |
one
year filled with two semesters |
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she sought aid from Robert S.  of
the Chicago
Weekly Defender. The newspaperman got in touch
with a flight school in France that was willing to
teach this determined young woman to fly.
[4] |
7. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
Abbott: |
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C. |
Abbott,
whose |
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D. |
Abbott; |
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[1] While  one
of her
instructors Anthony Fokker, the famous aircraft
designer. [2] Bessie Coleman took a quick course in |
8. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
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G. |
they're |
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H. |
there, |
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J. |
there,
she had as |
The
best answer is J. It proposes the correct form of the adverb (there)
and ensures that the main clause is a complete sentence. Choices F and G are
both wrong because they propose using the contracted form of they are.
Although they're sounds like there, it has a different meaning,
which would not make sense in the context of this sentence. Choice H proposes
the correct adverb but also proposes deleting "she had as," which
would create a sentence fragment: "While there, one of her instructors
Anthony Fokker, the famous aircraft designer." |
French,  her affairs, and sailed for |
9. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
as
if to settle |
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C. |
to
settle |
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D. |
settled |
The
best answer is D. It logically presents this sentence as a series of three
verb phrases, all in the simple past tense. Choices A, B, and C all
incorrectly attempt to relate the second phrase in this series to the first
phrase. There is no information in this essay nor any logic to support the
idea that "Bessie Coleman took a quick course in French, to settle her
affairs" (Choice C) or "took a quick course in French, as if to
settle her affairs" (Choice B). Likewise, the sense of probability or
expectation or futurity that might be expressed by "should she settle
her affairs" has no logical support in the context of this essay. |
Europe. [3] Coping with a  foreign
language
and flying in capricious, unstable machines held
together with baling wire was daunting, but Coleman |
10. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
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G. |
(Place
after with) |
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H. |
(Place
after flying) |
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J. |
(Place
after in) |
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persevered. 
[5]
On June 15, 1921,
Bessie |
| 11. |
Which
of the following sequences of sentences will make Paragraph 4 most logical? |
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A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
1,
3, 2 |
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C. |
2,
1, 3 |
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D. |
3,
2, 1 |
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issued by the International Aeronautical Federation.
Not only was she the first black woman to win her
pilot's wings, she was the first American woman to
hold this coveted license.
[6]
She was ready for a
triumphant return to the |
12. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
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G. |
Coleman
earned an international pilot's license |
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H. |
Coleman,
earned an international pilot's license |
| |
J. |
Coleman
earned an international pilot's license; |
|
United States to barnstorm and  that
if |
13. |
A. |
NO
CHANGE |
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B. |
lecture
and proof |
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C. |
lecture,
proof |
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D. |
lecture
proof, |
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the will is  one's dream can be
attained. |
14. |
F. |
NO
CHANGE |
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G. |
stronger
than |
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H. |
strongly
enough, |
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J. |
strong
enough, |
The
best answer is J. It effectively coordinates the various elements of this
noun clause, which is functioning as an appositive for the subject of the
main clause of this sentence. The entire noun clause should read: "proof
that if the will is strong enough, one's dream can be attained." You
will see that within this noun clause, which is already serving a secondary
role in terms of the main clause of the sentence, there is a main clause
("one's dream can be attained") and a subordinate clause related to
that main clause by the conjunction if ("the will is strong
enough"). Choice H is wrong because it proposes an adverb (strongly) where a predicate adjective is required. Choices F and G are both wrong
because they coordinate these clauses in ways that don't make sense and that
make clause fragments: "if the will is strong enough for one's dream can
be attained" (Choice F) and "if the will is stronger than one's
dream can be attained" (Choice G). |
The
writer intends to add the following sentence to the essay in order to provide
a comparison that would help underline the challenges that Bessie Coleman
faced:
Her dream of becoming the world's first
black woman pilot seemed as remote in Chicago as it had been in Oklahoma.
In
order to accomplish this purpose, it would be most logical and appropriate to
place this sentence after the: |
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15. |
A. |
first
sentence in Paragraph 2. |
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B. |
first
sentence in Paragraph 3. |
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C. |
last
sentence in Paragraph 3. |
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D. |
first
sentence in Paragraph 5. |
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