ACT English › Pronoun Agreement
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early 1 phase's of it's construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
NO CHANGE
phases of its
phases of it's
phase's of its
This question has two distinct decision points: between "phases" and "phase's" and between "its" and "it's." In both cases, the correct answer hinges on whether the word is meant to be possessive. The word "phase" should be plural rather than possessive (the phase of the construction can't possess anything), so the correct form of the word is "phases." Between "its" and "it's," you need to determine whether the word should be possessive (its) or the contraction "it is" (it's). Since you are looking at the construction of the Sagrada Familia, you need the possessive form "its."
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. 1 However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
NO CHANGE
Therefore,
In fact,
Consequently,
Regarding,
Whenever the ACT Writing and Language section asks you for the best transition between two paragraphs or sentences, read the sentence before and after the transition and determine the relationship between the two sentences. The sentence before in this case states that the original vision of the church was based on Gothic revival churches from Italy. The sentence after the transition word states that this ideal wasn't built. Because of the contrast between the two sentences, you're looking for a word that indicates contrast. The only choice that indicates contrast is, NO CHANGE. Since the other options all indicate that the next sentence should be a continuation, they can all be eliminated.
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already 1 big architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
NO CHANGE
splashy
big name
well-known
outspoken
Whenever the ACT asks you to differentiate between four synonyms or near-synonyms on the Writing and Language section, it is either testing formality (whether the word choice matches the tone of the rest of the passage) or meaning (whether you recognize which of several closely related words to use). In this case, it is testing formality. Good writing has a consistent tone and is appropriate to the audience it is being presented to. This essay is about the history of a famous architectural site and has a formal tone. To fit with that, you need to have an equally formal word in this sentence. The only word that fits the tone of the passage is, well-known. The other three answer choices vary from informal ("big name") to vague ("big") and can be eliminated.
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, 1 he was a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
NO CHANGE
Gaudi was
his being
his was
DELETE the underlined portion.
Whenever you are asked to join two thoughts with a comma, you should make sure that the sentence that is created is both not a run-on and a complete sentence. In this case, your hint should be the second comma after "Catalonia" later in the sentence. The portion directly after the first comma is meant to be a piece of additional information bracketed within commas. It therefore shouldn't have a verb, since having a verb would create a run-on sentence. That should allow you to eliminate all choices except for "DELETE the underlined portion."
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
Gaudi 1 decided that departing from del Villar’s original Gothic design in favor of a more modern design. The new design was ambitious, featuring eighteen tall spires and four different facades on different sides of the basilica. But work on the new building was slow. Decades passed, and the work was still incomplete. In 1915, Gaudi - now 63 years old - abandoned all other work in favor of dedicating himself to the completion of the monumental church, but progress on the building was still slow. When pressured to speed up work on the monumental building, Gaudi was said to have replied, “My client is not in a hurry.” By the time Gaudi died in 1926, the basilica was only somewhere between 15 and 20 percent complete.
NO CHANGE
decided to depart
deciding in favor of departing
deciding to depart
decided rather than depart
Whenever you are choosing between different forms of the main verb of a sentence, you should check to make sure that the resulting sentence is in the appropriate tense and that it leaves a complete sentence. In this case, the given sentence is incomplete: if you are "deciding that departing" from a course of action, you are left without a main verb in the sentence and don't have a complete sentence. This means that choice, NO CHANGE, can be eliminated. The same logic can be used to eliminate "deciding in favor of departing" and "deciding to depart" since both will leave you with an incomplete sentence. The only choice, "decided to depart" leaves you with a complete sentence in the appropriate tense.
The company manual specifically outlines rules for employees about contacting managers while they are out of the office on vacation or for personal reasons.
NO CHANGE
as they are
if they are
who are
This example tests us on pronoun ambiguity. In the original construction, and in all constructions that utilize the pronoun “they,” the pronoun is ambiguous and creates a reference error. A reference error exists when it is unclear who or what the pronoun refers back to. In this case, the pronoun “they” could refer back to the managers, or to the employees. Does the manual outline rules for employees about contacting managers while the managers are out of the office, or while the employees are? Because we are uncertain of the pronoun’s antecedent, all answers that utilize “they” can be eliminated, and we’re left with “who are.” “Who are” is logical in this case, as the relative clause opener “who” must logically refer back to the noun or noun phrase before, in this case, managers.
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
Gaudi decided to depart from del Villar’s original Gothic design in favor of a more modern design. The new design was ambitious, featuring eighteen tall spires and four different facades on different sides of the basilica. But work on the new building was slow. Decades passed, and the work was still incomplete. In 1 1915, Gaudi - now 63 years old - abandoned all other work in favor of dedicating himself to the completion of the monumental church, but progress on the building was still slow. When pressured to speed up work on the monumental building, Gaudi was said to have replied, “My client is not in a hurry.” By the time Gaudi died in 1926, the basilica was only somewhere between 15 and 20 percent complete.
NO CHANGE
1915, Gaudi, now 63 years old abandoned
1915, Gaudi – now 63 years old abandoned
1915, Gaudi, now 63 years old –
1915, Gaudi is now 63 years old abandoned
Whenever you see commas or dashes used to offset a piece of nonessential information, remember that either piece of punctuation is correct as long as it is consistent. If you use one dash, you need to close with a dash (or end the sentence) and if you use one comma, you need to close the thought with a comma. Each of the wrong answers either uses the comma or dash by itself without correctly closing off the other side of the additional information or incorrectly pairs the comma and dash together. The only answer choice that has the same piece of punctuation on their side of the added information is NO CHANGE, which adds a dash on either side of the additional information.
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 terms of 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 1 this job far outstrips the number of positions available, making the positions difficult to acquire.
NO CHANGE
each job
an individual job
these jobs
Whenever the ACT gives you a choice between a singular or a plural noun, it is probably testing some form of noun agreement. Just like pronouns have to agree with the nouns they refer to, nouns must also be consistent. The question you should ask yourself, therefore, is what the noun is referring back to. In this case, the word "job" refers to the positions of curators and museum curators. Because multiple people want these jobs (and because there is more than one job), you must have a plural noun here, making "these jobs," the only viable option.
The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early 1 phase's of it's construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.
NO CHANGE
phases of its
phases of it's
phase's of its
This question has two distinct decision points: between "phases" and "phase's" and between "its" and "it's." In both cases, the correct answer hinges on whether the word is meant to be possessive. The word "phase" should be plural rather than possessive (the phase of the construction can't possess anything), so the correct form of the word is "phases." Between "its" and "it's," you need to determine whether the word should be possessive (its) or the contraction "it is" (it's). Since you are looking at the construction of the Sagrada Familia, you need the possessive form "its."
John and James were both invited to the regional cross country tournament, but only he participated in the competitive 5k event.
NO CHANGE
but only the former
only the former
only he
This example tests us on pronoun ambiguity. In the original construction, it is unclear whether “he” refers back to John or James. Since we do not have a clear antecedent for our pronoun, any answer choice that utilizes “he” can be eliminated. In fact, in many cases, we correct pronoun ambiguity by eliminating the pronoun entirely, as the correct answer, “but only the former” has done. By referring to “the former,” the sentence has made it clear that we’re referring to John. The correct answer also includes the logical coordinating conjunction “but” after the comma to connect the two independent clauses in the sentence. Our final incorrect answer, “only the former” fails to include this conjunction and creates a comma splice.