ACT English Test : ACT English Test
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Example Questions
Example Question #41 : Act English Test
Invertebrates are animals without vertebrae. Arthropods, including arachnids that has eight legs, are in this phylum. Some species in this phylum include scorpions, spiders, and ticks. There are over 45,000 known species of spiders; however, scientists estimate that the same number are still undiscovered.
have
had
NO CHANGE
have had
have
With plural nouns, you need to make sure your verb agrees with your subject. In this modifier, "arachnids" is the subject, meaning the verb tense of "to have" needs to be conjugated to agree with the plural subject of "arachnids." "Have" is the only appropriate answer to this question because it not only agrees with the plural subject; it also carries the correct tense, which in this sentence is the present tense. "Have had" and "Had" are both in the past tense and do not work with this passage's tense and meaning. "Has" is incorrect because it does not agree with the plural "arachnids."
Example Question #42 : Act English Test
Music has been around for all of human history, and many cultures have their own styles and instruments. Recently, researchers have identified what are believed to be the oldest musical instruments in the world. Scientists has used carbon dating to discover that flutes made from bird bone and mammoth ivory found in southern Germany were between 42,000 and 43,000 years old.
has use
have use
used
NO CHANGE
used
In this passage, the verb does not need to be conjugated to the present perfect tense, which is done by adding “have” or “has,” since the verb is not ongoing “Used” is the correct option because it is the preterite of “use” which expresses a past action or state. “Have use,” “has use,” and “has used” are all conjugated incorrectly for the plural noun “scientists” and do not agree with the plural noun. “Used” is the only option that both correctly agrees with the plural noun and expresses a timeline that is logical.
Example Question #43 : Act English Test
There are many fish that live thousands of meters below the surface of the sea. These deep-sea creatures have adapted to their environment of little to no light. One creature, the vampire squid, is a small creature that grows to be around 6 inches in length and is the only surviving member of its order, Vampyromorphida. The vampire squid have long fins at the top of its body that serves as its means of propulsion, flying through the water by flapping these fins. The vampire squid’s body is covered with light-producing organs called photophores, allowing the vampire squid to use the chemical process known as bioluminescence to see in the dark depths of the ocean.
had
have had
NO CHANGE
has
has
Whenever the passage is written in the present tense, the verbs used in the passage need to create a timeline of events that is logical. “Has had” is in the present perfect tense, but does not agree with the tense in the rest of the passage or the singular subject. You can identify the subject as singular and not plural due to the possessive pronoun “its” following the underlined portion of the sentence. If the subject were plural, the possessive would be “their” instead. “Had” is in the past tense and would not work. “Have” does not agree with the singular subject of the vampire squid, leaving “has” as the only correct option.
Example Question #44 : Act English Test
Most African cuisine traditionally uses a variety of local grains, fruits, and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products. Each region of Africa has different styles and traditional meals. In Central Africa, agriculture consists of yellow onions, yam, spinach, millet, bananas, okra, rice, and garlic. Many meat dishes there consist of chicken or goat. East African dishes focused primarily on grains, such as rice, flour for bread, millet, and maize, and have a plethora of stews cooked with meat and vegetables.
have focus
focus
will have focused
NO CHANGE
focus
Whenever the passage is written in the present tense, the verbs used in the passage need to agree with the tense. “Focused” is not the correct answer because it is the simple past tense, and implies that these trends are no longer the case. “Will have focused” is in the future perfect tense, not the present. “Have focus” is an incorrect conjugation and would need to be written as “have focused” to be correct. “Focus” is the only option that is in the present tense and agrees with the subject. We can also use the verb “have” that appears later in the sentence at hand to better identify the correct timeline of events.
Example Question #7 : Verbs
The earliest known algebraic mathematical text was found in Egypt, dated to around 1650 BCE. This text shows that the ancient Egyptians could solve both linear equations and systems of equations. The ancient Greeks was best known for their discoveries in Geometry, including the Pythagorean Theorem.
were
have been
NO CHANGE
is
were
The subject of the sentence is “Greeks,” which is a plural noun. The verb would need to agree with the plural subject, therefore “is,” “was,” and “has been” are incorrect because they are all singular verbs. The passage is also written in the past tense and would need to agree with tense and create a meaning that is logical, so “were” is the only choice that agrees with both the tense and the subject.
Example Question #45 : Act English Test
Florida was first discovered by Europeans in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon. Its first city, St. Augustine, found shortly after in 1565. St. Augustine is known to be the oldest continuously inhabited European establishment. Prior to the colonization of Florida, many indigenous tribes resided there, such as the Apalachee, Seminoles, Timucua, and Creek.
find
finds
was founded
NO CHANGE
was founded
Whenever the verbs in the passage are in the past tense, any verbs that follow need to keep with the same verb tense to create a meaning that is logical. This passage is written in the past tense, so the verbs need to agree with the past tense. “Founded” is the correct answer because this means “to found,” or establish something, such as a company or in this case: a city. “Find” and “Finds” are both in the present tense and would not agree with the sentence. “Found” is incorrect because, while still in the past tense, it expresses a different, illogical meaning.
Example Question #9 : Verbs
Famous psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, is best known for his study of classical conditioning. Pavlov theorized that one learns through a pairing of a stimulus with a conditioned response. The experiment he conducted demonstrated how the presence of dog food would trigger a conditioned response. The dog food acted as the stimulus, while the conditioned response was that the dogs would salivate. In order to condition the response, every time Pavlov would feed the dogs, he would ring a bell. After he repeated this procedure, he would ring the bell without giving the dogs any food, which still triggered the conditioned response of salivation without the stimulus of food, proving his theory correct.
NO CHANGE
acts
act
will act
NO CHANGE
The passage is written in the past tense and “acted” is the only verb that agrees with that tense. The response “will act” does not work because it is in the future tense. The responses “acts” and “act” are both in the present tense and would also be incorrect. The subject, “food,” is singular, and “act” does not agree with the singular subject.
Example Question #1 : Subject Verb Agreement
To be considered true niche constructors, however, earthworms must change the environment in such a way as to alter the evolution of another species. One of the easiest ways to measure this effect on evolution has been in the effect that the number of earthworms 1 have on soil fertility, a measure of how hospitable an environment is to plant growth. Even the least fertile soil has around 62 worms per square meter, and as the number of worms increases so does soil fertility. As worms move through the different layers of soil, they eat, digest, and excrete massive amounts of organic matter. They leave their excretions behind in the form of nutrient-rich droppings known as casings. As these casings decompose, they release nutrients into the soil. This process not only moves nutrients from one layer of the soil to another but also converts the nutrients to forms that plants can absorb and process more easily.
can be to
has on
it has on
NO CHANGE
has on
The error in the original sentence is one of subject-verb agreement. The subject is “the number,” with “of earthworms” serving as a prepositional modifier that tells us more about the number. So the correct phrasing should be “the effect that the number (of earthworms) has on soil fertility…” Note that this occurs often on the ACT, with the authors of these questions adding descriptions (often in the form of prepositional modifiers) that include nouns, making your job of determining which subject goes with the verb a difficult one.
"Has on" is therefore correct. Among the other answer choices, "it has on" is incorrect because of the pronoun “it” between the subject, number of earthworms, and verb, has. And "can be to" uses improper diction: something can have an effect on something else, but to say that “its effect can be to” is an improper sentence structure.
Example Question #2 : Subject Verb Agreement
There are two different ways to consider the so-called “Dark Ages.” On the one hand, you can think of the period directly after the fall of the Roman Empire, when civilization began to collapse throughout the Western Empire. On the other hand, you can consider the period that followed this initial collapse of society. It is a gross simplification to use the adjective dark to describe the civilization of either of these periods.
As regards the first period, it is quite a simplification to consider this period to be a single historical moment. It is not as though the civilization switched off like a lightbulb. At one moment light and then, at the next, dark. Instead, the decline of civilization occurred over a period of numerous decades and was, in fact, already occurring for many years before the so-called period of darkness. Thus, the decline of civilization was not a rapid collapse into barbarism, but instead, was a slow alteration of the cultural milieu of a partition of Europe. Indeed, the Eastern Roman Empire retained much of its cultural status during these years of decline!
More importantly, the period following the slow collapse of the Western Empire was much less “dark” than almost every popular telling state. Indeed, even during the period of decline, the seeds for cultural restoration was being sown. A key element of this cultural revival was the formation of monastic communities throughout the countryside of what we now know as Europe. Although these were not the only positive force during these centuries, the monasteries had played an important role in preserving and advancing the cause of culture through at least the thirteenth century and arguably until the Renaissance.
How should the underlined section be corrected?
Indeed, even during the period of decline the seeds for cultural restoration was being sown.
Indeed, even during the period of decline, the seeds for cultural restoration were being sown.
NO CHANGE
Indeed, even during the period of decline, the seeds, for cultural restoration were being sown.
Indeed, even during the period of decline, the seeds for cultural restoration were being sown.
The issue with the sentence as written is the fact that its main verb does not match the number of the sentence's subject. The subject is "seeds." Think of a simple sentence to check the verb: "The seeds were . . ." If you were to say, "The seeds was," you would immediately be aware of the error! The intervening expression "for cultural restoration" can distract you if you are not careful. Now, no additional commas are necessary. The "for" is a preposition, not a conjunction.
Example Question #46 : Act English Test
The traditional view of archaeologists usually involves a college professor who spends much of his or her time digging and researching in ancient foreign libraries or a museum curator who works every day to preserve the artifacts the museum holds. While this view isn’t completely incorrect, it is incomplete, both in terms of the types of jobs available to archaeologists and in the types of work within those jobs. For example, college professors may spend summers at dig sites, but much of their time is also spent writing grants, teaching students, and writing about their research projects. Additionally, although there are still many people who work in archaeology as professors and museum curators, the demand for these jobs far outstrips the number of positions available, making the positions difficult to acquire.
worked
work
NO CHANGE
do work
NO CHANGE
This problem asks you to find the proper form of the verb “work,” and showcases a handful of important lessons. For one, note that the verb “works” follows the relative pronoun “who” - this means that this verb applies specifically to the word that “who” is modifying, which is “curator.” So while this sentence involves many nouns, the only one that matters here is “curator.” For that reason, the noun must be singular, eliminating choices "work" and "do work", which are plural.
"Worked" is also incorrect, as the past tense implies that this curator in question has completed this work. Note that everything else in the sentence is ongoing: the traditional view “involves,” the professor “spends.” Therefore to suggest that this one action is completed while the others are ongoing is illogical, making this incorrect. The correct answer is "NO CHANGE", which uses a singular, ongoing verb “works.”
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