“But” or “yet” between adjectives = no comma

“But” or “yet” between adjectives = no comma

One of the ACT’s preferred tricks is to give you a sentence that looks like the following:

 

Millions of pedal-assisted electric bicycles have already been sold in Asian countries, such as China, where bicycles often serve as a cheap, yet efficient mode of transport.

A. NO CHANGE
B. cheap; yet efficient
C. cheap, yet efficient
D. cheap yet efficient

 

Because it seems natural to pause before the word yet many people’s instinct is to insert a comma at that point in the sentence.

However, the rule is that when two adjectives are separated by a conjunction (typically but or yet, although and could be tested as well), no comma should be used before the conjunction.

In this case, cheap and efficient are both adjectives, so no comma is necessary. The answer is therefore D.

You can also think of the rule this way: comma + but/yet = period.

When you plug in a period, you get nonsense:

Millions of pedal-assisted electric bicycles have already been sold in Asian countries, such as China, where bicycles often serve as a cheap. Efficient mode of transport.

If a period doesn’t work, neither does comma + but/yet.

Shortcut: paragraph “main function”

The wording of “main function” questions can be very misleading: after all, they inevitably ask about the main function of a paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole. The thing is, though, you don’t really have to really have to deal with the entire passage when trying to answer them. You don’t even have to deal with the entire paragraph that’s being asked about.

In general, you really only have to deal with a few key sentences: most often, the answer will be found in the first two sentences of the paragraph in question, although in some cases you may need to back up and read the last sentence of the previous paragraph.

As always, you should pay special attention to any major transition words (but, however, furthermore, etc.) or “interesting” forms of punctuation (semicolons, colons, quotation marks)  that indicate the relationship between the preceding idea and the current idea.

To reiterate: The first sentence of the paragraph referred to in the question will often not give you the necessary information, so it’s important that you read the first two sentences. Normally the ACT asks about paragraphs that shift the focus from one idea to another, so be particularly on the lookout for anything that suggests contradiction.

Let’s look at an example:

2017/2018 practice test, section 3, question #16:

One of the main purposes of the last paragraph is to state that the:

F. gashes in the rift valley continue to increase in width.
G. seafloor of Atlantic has cooled.

H. entire Atlantic seafloor has issued from the gashes in the rift valley.
J. volcanoes on Earth’s dry land have created the newest, youngest pieces of Atlantic seafloor.

Strategy: The first thing we’re going to do is read the first two sentences of the last paragraph. We do not need to consider any other information.

Yet, what had seemed so foreign to scientists is an integral part of earth’s very being, for at the ridge our own planet gives birth. The floor of the rift valley is torn; from the gashes has sprung the seafloor underlying all of Atlantic.

It’s important to stress here that we don’t even need to know what’s going on in the passage to determine the function of the last paragraph. The paragraph itself provides all the information we need.

The first sentence doesn’t offer a lot of help, but the second sentence is key (note the semicolon). It tells us that the seafloor of the entire Atlantic has sprung from the floor of the rift valley, which is exactly what H says.

“Would of” or “would have”?

Would, could, should, might OF = wrong

Would, could, should, might HAVE = right

This is among the ACT’s favorite rules to test.

Why?

Because in spoken English, the words are contracted so that would have becomes would’ve, which is pronounced like would of. As a result, a lot of people very logically assume that would’ve = would of. But in reality, this construction does not actually exist.

So, for example:

Incorrect: If my parents had not forced me to attend Chinese school, I never would of developed an appreciation for the traditions of Chinese New Year.

Correct: If my parents had not forced me to attend Chinese school, I never would have developed an appreciation for the traditions of Chinese New Year.

Be nice to your reader, and your reader will be nice to you

You have to feel kind of sorry for the people who read SAT and ACT essays. They have to sit in a room for hours reading essay after essay after essay (after essay after essay) on Hitler, Martin Luther King, The Great Gatsby, and The Catcher in the Rye, with the occasional Frankenstein or ancient Chinese proverb reference thrown in for variety. Or, in the case of ACT readers, “Why a fifth year of high school is *not* a good idea.” Not really anyone’s idea of a fun afternoon, I’m guessing. Hey, they’re people too.

Just think: if you were stuck reading all those essays for hours on end, how generous a mood would you be in by the end of the day? I don’t think anyone’s ever done a study, but I suspect that many readers are somewhat more inclined to be generous with their score for essay #7 than they are for, say, essay #157.

So given that you have no idea whether your essay will in fact be #7 or #157, it would strongly behoove you to be as nice to your reader as you can manage. Or at least try not to annoy him or her too badly. As I always tell my students, if you take pity on your reader, your reader will be more likely to take pity on you. Here are three ways you can do that:

1) Write neatly

You can manage it just this once. Readers have about two minutes at most to read and score essays. If they’re tearing their hair out just trying to decipher what you wrote, which way do you think they’re more likely to go (subconsciously, of course) if you’re on the border between a 4 and a 5?

2) Make your argument easy to follow

You are writing a persuasive essay, not trying to win a poetry award. Some big words are good, but not to the point that they obscure what you’re trying to say. If your readers can’t get the gist of your argument almost instantaneously, they will not go to go back over your essay, parsing the details the way your English teacher might and trying to figure out what you meant to say. Instead, they’ll just give you a lower score.

Using transitions such as “in addition,” “however,” and “likewise” can go a long way toward reducing the amount of work a reader has to do to figure out your argument.

3) Use an example they haven’t already seen 150 times

That means no Hitler or MLK if you can manage to avoid them. That’s not to say that a stupendously written essay that uses one of these examples won’t get a 12, but try not to push your luck. If your readers are even mildly engaged by your writing, they’ll be much more favorably disposed toward you.

A suggestion for managing time on ACT English

If you find yourself in the habit of slowing down on the rhetoric questions and then having to race at the end of the English sections, please consider
trying this out. (If you’re fine on time and have no problem with rhetoric questions, you can ignore this post.)

On ACT English, you have 45 minutes for 75 questions, divided into five passages with 15 questions each. That breaks down into 9 minutes per passage, or a little over 30 seconds per question.

As you may already know, however, some ACT English questions take far more time to finish than others. Grammar questions are often fairly straightforward and can often be done in a matter of seconds. However, rhetoric questions, especially ones that require you to reread substantial portions of the passage, can take much longer.

Now, rhetoric questions are usually located at the end of each passage — but not always. Sometimes they come right at the beginning. Sometimes they’re mixed in with grammar questions. When that’s the case, forget them for a little bit. Mark the ones you skip so you won’t forget to come back to them later, then do all the grammar questions.

If you get done with the grammar questions before the 9 minutes are up, go back to the rhetoric questions you skipped; if not, move on and do the same thing for the next passage (but don’t forget to guess on the ones you skipped; it can’t hurt you).

Your goal should be to get as many questions right as fast as you can. No question counts more than any other question, so it’s in your interest to first do all the questions you’re sure of, then worry about the ones you’re shaky on.

So the bottom line is this: don’t waste time working on a question you might not get right at the expense of working on a question you’ll almost certainly get right.