by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 19, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing
Note: because of the extreme popularity of this post, I’ve made it available as a PDF download.
Way back in the olden days when American schools regularly taught grammar, many students learned that a comma should automatically be placed before a person’s name or the title of a book, magazine, etc.
In reality, however, that’s not quite true. The inclusion of a comma actually depends on the circumstances, and having a comma vs. no comma can dramatically change the meaning of a sentence. (more…)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | SAT Essay
For anyone not familiar with the controversy, the full question, which was given to about a third of test-takers on Saturday 3/12, is as follows (from the website of the Washington Post):
“Reality television programs, which feature real people engaged in real activities rather than professional actors performing scripted scenes, are increasingly popular. These shows depict ordinary people competing in everything from singing and dancing to losing weight, or just living their everyday lives. Most people believe that the reality these shows portray is authentic, but they are being misled. How authentic can these shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?
“Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?
If you just glance at the question, it’s pretty easy to understand why people are so outraged. But it’s not actually that simple.
Part of the problem is that many people unfamiliar with the SAT are unaware of the difference in importance between the background to the prompt and the prompt itself (in bold). The background is designed to explain the question, to put it in some context; it is not intended to limit the kind of responses that test-takers can provide. In fact, it can be ignored completely with no ill consequences. If the background consists of a quote by a famous physicist, for example, students are not expected to know anything about physics to answer the question. The same holds true here.
The question alone, when read separately from the prompt, is actually a “serious” question about the relationship between art and life, truth and fiction, and the moral role of entertainment in a society. It of course lends itself quite well to examples about reality TV, but not to the exclusion of other examples, even literary or historical ones. If you look closely at the wording of the question, it asks about “forms of entertainment that show,” not television shows. Someone could easily write about Michael Moore’s documentaries, or Norman Rockwell’s idealized images of American society, or Jenny Fields’ autobiography in John Irving’s The World According to Garp (one of my all-time favorite books, and one that works for just about every imaginable SAT essay). It takes a little more thought than usual to come with examples (no, you can’t just stick MLK or Hitler into this one), but it can certainly be done.
For the record, the College Board has asked questions that can only be answered with contemporary examples before: “Should people make more of an effort to be involved in their communities?” is one. “Is creativity needed more in the world today?” is another. No one ever harangued the SAT for pandering to kids who do a lot of community service on the one hand or a lot of art on the other. Though I’ll readily admit that this isn’t quite the same thing, when you consider only the question itself, it’s not all that far off either.
I’m not quite letting the College Board off the hook here, though; even if the question alone was acceptable, the construction of the overall prompt is just a bit too narrow for comfort. It is, after all, phrased in such a way that people unfamiliar with what the College Board expects of them might feel obligated to write about reality TV, even if that’s not the case at all. It’s one thing to include a quote by a physicist; it’s something very different to explicitly refer to popular culture, which most teenagers are in fact familiar with. Someone who doesn’t know much about reality TV or the SAT might therefore be inclined to panic, even if he or she is perfectly capable of coming up with one or two decent examples under different, less stressful circumstances.
So yes, obviously someone who spends a lot of time watching reality TV is going to have more examples immediately spring to mind than someone who barely watches television. That said, however, the former does not necessarily have an advantage; test-takers who spend most of their time watching reality television are probably going to have far weaker writing skills than those who spend most of their time reading, say, Dickens. And competent writing and an organized structure with decent examples will always win out over great examples combined with a chaotic structure and sloppy writing.
But I still think that the College Board screwed up on this one. By attempting to be relevant, however misguidedly so, the College Board has, incredibly enough, made itself an even larger object of scorn. The next time it dips its toe into the arena of the culture wars, it needs to do so a little more carefully. Or better yet, play it safe and keep asking about the nature of heroism and the existence of free will.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | ACT Reading, Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
If you have timing issues on reading, you may want to try the following:
1. Read the introduction slowly until you figure out the basic point of the passage. Underline it.
2. Read the first and last sentence of each of the body paragraphs; if you can skim through the rest, do; if you’re too afraid you’ll run out of time, don’t bother. The goal is to establish a mental outline of the argument being presented. 1 Paragraph = 1 Idea, and the first (topic) sentence will give you the point of the paragraph, which the remainder of the information in it will most likely support.
3. Read the conclusion slowly and underline the last sentence, which usually restates the main point.
As long as you can keep in mind the important shifts (for example, the places where an author switches from criticizing one idea to proposing her own explanation), you’ll have plenty of context when you go back and answer the questions. In fact, working this way can actually make it easier to answer them because you won’t be so caught up in the details.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog, Reading (SAT & ACT)
Here’s a good rule of thumb: If the wording in an answer choice is too close to the wording in the passage, the answer is probably wrong. This is a bit more true on the SAT than the ACT, but in general, it applies to both tests. It’s so easy to fall for these answers choices… After all, they’re actually right there in the passage.
But wait… are they?
Normally, these are the answers that fall into the category of “half-right, half-wrong.”
Knowing that many readers will be unsure of the meaning of a particular phrase, the test-writers will often quote it directly in the answer choice; relieved, the unsuspecting test-taker will simply pick it without thinking twice. But usually there’s a word in the answer that makes it incorrect.
For example, if the passage uses the phrase enigmatic figure to describe an author, the answer might indicate that the phrase actually refers to a character in one of his novels. Don’t fall for the trick. Your job is to identify the answer that expresses the same general idea discussed in the passage, but one that does so in different words.
So when you go to the answer choices, look for ones that contain synonyms for words in the passage. And the fact that those words are ones that you would might not come up with on your own is entirely irrelevant. So repeat after me: Same idea, different words!
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog, Reading (SAT & ACT)
While it’s ok to skim through a passage just to get the gist, at least during an initial read-through, you need to read the questions very, very carefully. If even one word of an answer choice is incorrect, the whole answer is automatically incorrect. It doesn’t matter how much the rest of the answer works; it’s just wrong.
A huge mistake that test-takers make is to read both questions and answer choices too quickly. This essentially creates two problems for them:
1) They don’t really understand what questions are asking
2) They don’t think carefully about what the answer choices are actually saying
Then they get the question wrong and blame the test for being “tricky.”
One of the things that initially surprises and then rapidly bores my students is the sheer amount of time I spend re-defining questions for myself. (And by “sheer amount of time,” I mean 10 or 15 seconds). I’ll often rephrase questions two or three times, “stripping them down” progressively into simpler and simpler wording to make sure that I’m totally, 100% clear about what they’re actually asking.
My students almost never do this. They just want to plow through the question and the answer choices, leaping at the first thing that seems like it could work. And when I try to make them slow down and actually think about what they’re doing, I can practically see the impatience steaming out of their ears.
Sometimes they even beg me to just let them have one more go at it. At which point they proceed to reject any semblance of methodical thinking, simply stare at the answer choices without working anything out, and then ask me hesitantly, is it (C)?
Usually I just shrug and tell them I haven’t finished working out the answer yet. As I remind them, no one gets bonus points for speed. I’m doing what I do to make sure I get the question right, speed be damned. It’s not that I can’t answer the question quickly – it’s that I’m deliberately choosing not to because I know that I would leave myself open to making careless errors that way, or to overlooking crucial pieces of information staring me right in the face.
Unfortunately, that’s a lesson that comes with experience; sometimes it takes a while to sink in.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog, General Tips
One of the biggest mistakes juniors make is to take the SAT or ACT in the winter or the early spring –when they’re not truly prepared — just because they (or their parents) have decided they should be done by a certain time. While this certainly does work for some people, the reality is that many others will need to complete most of their junior year in order to really be ready. The skills that the SAT tests cannot be acquired overnight, or even in a month or two for most people, and if you need some extra time to really feel like you know what you’re doing, take it and don’t look back.
My general rule is that you shouldn’t take the test for real until you have already scored in your target range on a full-length, timed practice test. Your score will probably not just magically shoot up on the actual test, and even with score choice, you may still be required to submit it to certain schools. Every one of my students that decided to take the test earlier than planned “just to get a score” was unhappy with the results. The ones that waited, on the other hand, never regretted doing so.
Furthermore, taking the test before you’re ready and ending up with a score you don’t want can create a dangerous cycle of anxiety. I’ve had a number of students who took either the ACT or the SAT repeatedly before coming to me, and they spent so much time psyching themselves out that my biggest challenge was simply to persuade them that they could actually do well!
So if you originally intended to take the test and January or March but don’t end up feeling that you’re ready by then, do not take the test “just to get it over with.” If you are signed up for the May test but feel like you need an extra month to study, wait and take the test in June. I know you have finals and AP/IB exams and it sucks to still be studying that late when all of your friends have their scores already, but trust me, it pays to take the time, work on the areas you need to work on, and then take the test when you feel you’re finally in control.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 15, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing
This is a rule that’s pretty much guaranteed to show up on every ACT and SAT, and knowing it can get you an easy couple of points.
It’s = It is
Correct: It’s very rainy outside today, but it might be sunnier tomorrow.
Incorrect: Its very rainy outside today, but it might be sunnier tomorrow.
Its = Possessive form of “It”
Correct: The book has lost its cover.
Incorrect: The book has lost it’s cover.
Its’ = does not exist
It’s vs. its can be tricky because nouns with apostrophes are possessive (e.g., the boy’s hat = the hat that belongs to the boy). As a result, many people very logically mistake it’s ( a pronoun) for the possessive form. Note that on the ACT, its is almost always the correct answer for precisely this reason.
There is, however, a simple trick.
If you see both it’s and its show up as answer choices and aren’t sure which one to choose, plug in it is. If the sentence makes sense, you need the apostrophe; if it doesn’t (much more likely), you don’t need the apostrophe.
Incorrect: Florida, the site of some of the first European settlements in North America, increased it’s population very slowly after being established as a state.
Plug in: Florida, the site of some of the first European settlements in North America, increased it is population very slowly after being established as a state.
Correct: Florida, the site of some of the first European settlements in North America, increased its population very slowly after being established as a state.
Finally, remember that its’ does not exist. (Nor, for that matter, does its’s, which has been known to appear on occasion.) The plural of its is their. Any answer that contains its’ can be automatically eliminated—no exceptions.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 13, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing
This is one of the most common errors involving commas on the ACT, and it’s one that’s very easy to identify and fix.
A compound item is simply two nouns or verbs joined by the word “and.” The rule is that you never need a comma before the “and.”
If the grammatical terminology makes you too nervous, there’s also a great shortcut: comma + and = period, and if you plug in a period, you won’t have two full sentences. Since the period isn’t correct, “comma + and” isn’t correct either.
Compound Subject Errors
Incorrect: The cover, and the binding of the old book are beginning to disintegrate.
Period replaces “comma + and:” The cover. The binding of the old book are beginning to disintegrate.
Correct: The cover and the binding of the old book are beginning to disintegrate.
Compound Object Errors
Incorrect: The book has many pages, and illustrations.
Period replaces “comma + and:” The book has many pages. Illustrations.
Correct: The book has many pages and illustrations.
Compound Verb
Incorrect: The cover of the old book is beginning to fade, and disintegrate.
Period replaces “comma + and:” The cover of the old book is beginning to fade. Disintegrate.
Correct: The cover of the old book is beginning to fade and disintegrate.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 12, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing, Grammar (SAT & ACT)
For some reason, colons have a tendency to make people nervous. There’s really no reason for concern, though, because there are only three things you need know in order to use them flawlessly.
Colons can be used in two situations:
1) Before a list
New England consists of six states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
2) Before an explanation
Correct: I spoke to my supervisor, and this is what she said: I should come in early tomorrow morning in order to make up for the shift that I missed last night.
The first half of the sentence sets up the information after the colon, which explains what the supervisor said.
Let’s look at a slightly more challenging example.
Correct: The Greek goddess Athena was a complex figure: she was a patron of the arts and music, but she also was a warrior who was typically depicted as wearing armor and carrying a shield.
Again, the second half of the sentence expands on the first — it explains why Athena was a complex figure.
Now, there is an additional requirement:
The sentence before a colon must be able to stand on its own as a complete thought.
For instance, in the second example above, the statement The Greek goddess Athena was a complex figure is both a grammatically complete sentence and a statement that makes sense on its own.
In contrast, we cannot say this:
Incorrect: The Greek goddess Athena was: a complex figure.
Even though The Greek goddess Athena was is technically a complete sentence because it contains a subject (The Greek goddess Athena) and a verb (was), it does not make sense as an independent thought.
One more example.
Incorrect: In recent years, forest fires have become: an increasing threat in the United States and abroad.
Because In recent years, forest fires have become does not make sense as an independent statement, it should not come before a colon.
Correct: In recent years, forest fires have become an increasing threat: they burn earlier and later in the year, both in the United States and abroad.
Because In recent years, forest fires have become an increasing threat does make sense on its own, it can come before a colon.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 11, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing
Questions that look like the following appear on the English portion of virtually every ACT:
What do you get when you cross a chicken with an apple? A daffodil with rice? A flounder with a tomato? These aren’t jokes, waiting for a punch line.
A. NO CHANGE
B. jokes waiting
C. jokes, waiting
D. jokes, waiting,
Although this appears to be a question about commas, it’s actually about something else entirely: relative clauses. Now, the term “relative clause” is one that I avoid whenever possible; it tends to make people a little bit nervous. It also sounds kind of icky and grammatical, the sort of thing that’s so absurdly complicated that it makes you want to throw up your hands in utter defeat before you’ve even started to try to understand what it is.
Here’s the thing, though: relative clauses aren’t actually that hard. And in order to be certain about these questions — which can be among the trickiest English questions on the ACT — it really helps to understand the basic grammar behind them.
Relative pronouns are words like which, who(se), and that. They are frequently used to connect two sentences that would sound stiff and unnecessarily repetitive when written separately.
Who
Without relative pronoun: I saw a man. The man was eating a hamburger.
With relative pronoun: I saw a man who was eating a hamburger.
That
Without relative pronoun: This is the book. I read the book yesterday.
With relative pronoun: This is the book that I read yesterday.
It is also possible to join the sentences and create a relative clause without using a relative pronoun. For example:
Correct: I saw a man who was eating a hamburger.
OR
Correct: This is the book that I read yesterday.
When you get rid of the relative pronoun, however, you do not ever need to replace it with a comma — but this is exactly what the ACT does. And in the vast majority of instances, the pronoun in question will be that:
Correct: This is the book that I read yesterday
Correct: This is the book I read yesterday
Incorrect: This is the book, I read yesterday.
Which brings us back to the original question. The underlined portion of the sentence is in fact a relative clause. It could have also been written this way:
These aren’t jokes that are waiting for a punch line.
But since the relative pronoun that doesn’t appear in the sentence, no comma is necessary. The answer is therefore B (“These aren’t jokes waiting for a punchline.”)
Recognizing these questions can take a little bit of thought — they’re easy to overlook if you’re not expecting them to be there. But since there’s at least one on pretty much every single test, learning to recognize them can get you a guaranteed point or two.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog, Reading (SAT & ACT)
SAT and ACT Reading Tip: Whenever a question gives you a set of line numbers to refer to, always start a few lines above and read to a few lines below to establish context.
One of the most common errors that test-takers make on both the SAT and ACT Reading is to read only the lines referred to in the questions. After all, if the question refers you to line 15, then shouldn’t the answer be in line 15?
Here’s the problem, though: it might not be.
A line reference only tells you that a particular word or phrase appears in a given place. It does not indicate that the answer is necessarily in that place.
Remember: a lot of the time you’re being asked to identify the role a particular set of lines plays within a larger argument, and frequently that role isn’t apparent from reading the lines themselves. It’s apparent from what comes before…occasionally after.
In general, if the lines in question are relatively close to the beginning of a paragraph, you want to start from the beginning of paragraph. Think of it this way: the role of most information in a paragraph is to support the point made in the topic sentence, so if you go straight to the topic sentence, you’ll automatically get the point of the rest of the information. And chances are you’ll save a whole lot of time.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 8, 2011 | Blog, General Tips
This is one of those tiny tips that can make a big difference. Whenever you eliminate an answer, draw a line through the whole thing — don’t just cross out the letter, and don’t just put an “x” next to it. Otherwise, it’s very easy for your eye to get distracted. You end up going back and looking at answers that you’ve already gotten rid of. You think you’ve eliminated them, but subconsciously you haven’t done so completely, and consequently there’s a much higher likelihood that sooner or later you’ll accidentally fill in a wrong answer.
There’s also a psychological aspect. While working through a question, I find it a relief to be able to eliminate an answer thoroughly. Out of sight, of mind — it’s just one less thing to deal with. It shows you in a very concrete way that you’re making progress, and that tends to boost your motivation.
Besides, it can be very satisfying psychologically to cross something out so completely — it’s like saying, “Take that, you stupid test!”
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 7, 2011 | Grammar (SAT & ACT)
Prepositions are location and time words. They indicate where things are, where they’re going, and when they happen(ed).
Common Prepositions: to, from, for, at, by, with, between, about, in, on, around
Prepositional phrase – phrase that begins with a preposition. Prepositional phrase can contain nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, but they cannot contain verbs.
Examples:
-At my house
-During the long movie
-Between you and me
-To my older sister
If you’re not sure whether a word is a preposition, see if you can place it right before a noun at the end of a sentence. For example, you can say, My friend and I went to the movie because to is a preposition, but you cannot say, My friend and I went when the movie because when is not a preposition.
In addition, one of the most frequent questions students ask me is how they can figure out where prepositional phrases begin and end. The answer: a prepositional phrase begins at the preposition and ends right before the verb (if there is one).
In the following sentences, the prepositional phrases are underlined. Note that a sentence can easily contain multiple prepositional phrases back to back, and that a prepositional phrase can occur anywhere in a sentence.
-The stack of books is sitting on the kitchen table.
-One of the stories on the front page of the newspaper discusses the upcoming elections in great detail.
-The train is crowded with people on their way home from school and work.
-Sitting on the table are a peach and an apple.
Prepositional phrases are frequently inserted between subjects and verbs on both the SAT and the ACT in order distract from disagreements, so whenever you see a combination of singular and plural verbs in answer choices, crossing out prepositional phrases can help you identify errors.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 6, 2011 | Blog, Grammar (SAT & ACT)
This one of the key rules to know for both the ACT English Test and the SAT Writing and Language Test. Both of these tests place a strong emphasis on conciseness — namely, that short, clear constructions are preferable to long, wordy ones. When you are given a phrase rewritten several ways, all of which are grammatically correct, the shortest one will virtually always be right.
As a result, you should always start by checking the shortest answer and consider the longer ones only if it clearly does not fit.
Note that this rule applies only to general non-grammar question, NOT ones that require you to give a sentence a particular focus (e.g.” Which of the following most effectively emphasizes the author’s surprise at discovering a frog in her living room?”)
While some incorrect answers will simply include extra, unnecessary words, many others are incorrect because they are redundant.
Example #1
Incorrect: I decided to ask my mother a question, which required an answer.
Correct: I decided to ask my mother.
The only thing that one can ask is a question; and a question, by definition, requires an answer, so the inclusion of this information is unnecessary.
Example #2
Incorrect: In 2016, a bright purple ribbon glowed over Alberta, Canada, and the scientists who study aurora borealis—the northern lights—were unaware and did not know that it was even there.
Incorrect: In 2016, a bright purple ribbon glowed over Alberta, Canada, and the scientists who study aurora borealis—the northern lights—were unaware that it was even there.
By definition, people who are “unaware” do not know something, so it is unnecessary to include both.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 3, 2011 | Grammar (SAT & ACT)
Comma splice = two sentences separated by a comma
Rule = comma splices are always wrong
The comma splice is one of the most frequently tested errors on both SAT Writing and ACT English. Comma splices trump all other stylistic issues, which means that no matter how good a sentence sounds otherwise, it cannot be correct if it contains one.
Note that the most common tip-off for this error is “comma + pronoun” (he, she, it, they).
Comma Splice: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78, she achieved fame as an artist.
The four most common ways to fix comma splices are as follows:
1) Add a coordinating conjunction after the comma
Coordinating Conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
Correct: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78, but she achieved fame as an artist.
2) Replace the comma with a period or semicolon
A period/semicolon can be added alone or, more commonly, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, moreover) can be placed after the period or semicolon in order to make the relationship between the clauses clear.
Correct: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78; she achieved fame as an artist.
Correct: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78; nevertheless, she achieved fame as an artist.
Correct: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78. However, she achieved fame as an artist.
3) Make one of the clauses dependent by adding a subordinating conjunction (although, because, while)
Correct: Although Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78, she achieved fame as an artist.
4) Add a participle
Correct: Anna Robertson (“Grandma”) Moses only began painting at the age of 78, achieving fame as an artist.
Tip: whenever you see answer choices that include a semicolon, a period, and a comma + and/but, you can automatically eliminate all of those options. They are exactly equivalent to one another, and you will never be asked to choose between two equally correct answers.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 2, 2011 | Blog, Reading (SAT & ACT)
One of the first things my new students usually ask is whether they should read the passage or the questions first. My response: always, always the passage first.
Here’s why: the vast majority of reading questions on both the SAT and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the ACT are context-based. That is, you need to have a sense of the general argument or idea being presented in order to understand how a particular detail or piece of information fits into the larger picture. It’s really difficult to see how ideas relate when you only have part of the story.
The second question I usually get, though, is: Won’t I run out time if I spend all my time reading before I even look at the questions? To put it bluntly, no, you won’t. At least not if you approach the passage with the goal of understanding its overall argument rather than worrying about every little detail that might be just a tiny bit confusing. On the ACT, you should try to get through each passage in about three minutes; on the SAT, you can probably spend closer to five.
It might feel as if you’re taking more time upfront, but that extra time will pay off in the time you save by not having to search for information later. In addition, you may also want to answer some questions as you read the passage. When you get done, you’ll likely have more time to spend on less straightforward questions than you would have otherwise.
If, on the other hand, you just jump right to the questions, you’ll have to spend most of your time figuring out the significance or the function of the piece of information being asked about. You’ll have to hunt through the passage without any framework already in place, and you may overlook key areas that indicate a piece of information is contradicting or challenging an argument rather than supporting it. If you’re already read the passage, you’re a lot more likely to either remember on your own why the information was important or recognize the reason off the bat when you see it in the answer choice.
Remember: it’s the role the information plays in the overall argument, that matters — not the information itself. Yes, this tends to be more true on the SAT than the ACT, but the ACT has many “big picture” questions as well, and knowing the point of a passage can sometimes allow you to answer two or three questions immediately.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 1, 2011 | Grammar (SAT & ACT)
I find that a lot of people are afraid of semicolons. Either that, or they sort of kind of think they might have an idea about how to use them… From what I have observed, semicolons are probably the most misunderstood punctuation mark. And that’s very unfortunate because they’re actually very simple to use. They also show up on the SAT and ACT English a whole lot.
Here’s the rule: semicolon = period
That’s it. Seriously. Wherever you can use a period, you can also use a semicolon.
Easy, right?
by Erica L. Meltzer | Feb 28, 2011 | ACT English/SAT Writing
One of the most common grammatical errors on the ACT English Test and, to a slightly lesser extent, the SAT Writing Test is the use of a comma before or after a preposition (a “time” or “location” word).
Common prepositions:
Of, To, For, From, In, On, By, Between, About, With, Around, Across, Through, Over, Under
This construction is virtually always incorrect, and any answer that contains it should automatically be eliminated. Note that even if the original version in the passage doesn’t contain it, one or more of the other answers might include it.
Incorrect: The gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze, the crunch of twigs underfoot, and the eclectic mix of birdsong are the sounds one typically expects to hear while walking, through the forest.
Incorrect: The gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze, the crunch of twigs underfoot, and the eclectic mix of birdsong are the sounds one typically expects to hear while walking through, the forest.
Correct: The gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze, the crunch of twigs underfoot, and the eclectic mix of birdsong are the sounds one typically expects to hear while walking through the forest.
Many wrong answers on ACT English involve this error; you can very often get down to two answers and occasionally down to one just by crossing options that contain it.
