Part B: Use imagery to describe the following. 1. A body of water 2. A house Answers Part A 1. He has a quiet manner. Simile: He is as quiet as a whisper. (As quiet as a mouse is a cliché.) Metaphor: He is a whisper. 2. She was very angry. Simile: She was as angry as a tornado. Metaphor: She was a tornado. Part B 1. A body of water The gentle lapping of the waves lulled me to sleep by the lake. 2. A house The door to the gray house on the hill slammed shut in the wind, the sound echoing throughout the empty rooms. C ONSISTENCY IN STYLE AND TONE Appropriate and consistent tone is another element of effective writing that will be tested on the ACT Eng- lish Test. You may be asked to determine whether the writer’s tone is appropriate for his or her audience and purpose and to identify whether the writer has shifted tone in the passage. Tone is the mood or attitude conveyed by words or speech. Think, for example, of all the different ways to say sure or hello. It’s how you say the word that conveys so much of its meaning. When you listen to others, it’s usually pretty easy to hear the tone of their voice. But how do you “hear” tone in writing? How can you tell how the words should sound? Say you come across the word sure as you are reading. How do you know whether to whisper it or shout it? When we speak, we create tone by how quickly or slowly we say a word, how loudly or softly we say it, and how we use facial expressions and body language. When we read, though, we can’t hear how the writer says something. And we certainly can’t see the writer’s facial expressions or body language. But we can look carefully at word choice, punctuation, and style to help determine tone. For example, recall this pair of sen- tences from our punctuation review: Wait, I’m coming with you. Wait—I’m coming with you! – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 99 Here, it is the punctuation that changes the tone. The first sentence is calm, neutral. The second sen- tence, on the other hand, is emotional, excited. There are endless varieties of tones when we speak. Likewise, there are endless varieties of tone in writ- ing. Here’s a list of some of the more common words used to describe tone: cheerful hopeful sad gloomy apologetic critical sincere insincere sarcastic ironic playful demanding bossy indifferent anxious respectful disrespectful foreboding uncertain threatening matter-of-fact somber grateful annoyed humorous mocking defeated uplifting timid joyful secure insecure hesitant bold rude complimentary angry confident mischievous proud Practice 17 Carefully read the sentences below to determine their tone. Read them out loud and listen to how they sound when you read them. With what kind of voice do you read? What is your tone? 1. Um, do you think maybe my pizza will be ready soon? a. playful b. hesitant c. cheerful 2. Where the devil is my pizza?! f. gloomy g. disrespectful h. demanding 3. Alright already, your pizza’s coming! a. rude b. bold c. annoyed 4. Just a moment, please. Your pizza will be ready shortly. f. respectful g. timid h. anxious – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 100 5. Don’t push the yellow button. If you do, the system will shut down. a. bossy b. matter-of-fact c. ironic 6. Don’t you dare even go near that yellow button! f. threatening g. sad h. demanding Answers 1. b. 2. h. 3. c. 4. f. 5. b. 6. f. VARIETY IN SENTENCE STRUCTURE AND RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES FOR EMPHASIS Some ACT English Test questions will test your ability to manipulate sentence structure and punctuation for effect. Sentence structure, as we noted earlier, is an important element of style. If all of your sentences have the same pattern, you will end up with writing that is monotonous and dry, like the following passage: He is six feet, three inches tall. He is 34 years old. He loves to play golf. He drives a new convert- ible. He is a doctor. He works in a hospital. He lives in New Jersey. Unsophisticated and quite dull, isn’t it? That is because all of the sentences are short and share the same structure; they all start with he and a present tense verb. This is quite different from parallel structure. Par- allelism means using a repeating sentence pattern to create rhythm within a sentence or paragraph. This kind of repetition, on the other hand, creates monotony and shows a lack of flexibility in creating sentence pat- terns. Here’s the same paragraph revised to show variety in sentence structure: This 34-year-old doctor measures six feet, three inches tall. A New Jersey resident, he is a big fan of golf, and he drives his new convertible to the golf course whenever he can slip away from the hospital. Notice how much more interesting this paragraph is now. The seven sentences have been combined into two, and they both start with something other than he. Many of the short sentences have been turned into modifiers that make for more varied sentence patterns. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 101 Sentence structure and punctuation can also be used to manipulate emphasis. The best place to put sen- tence elements that you want to emphasize is at the end (the “save the best for last” approach). What comes last is what lingers longest in the readers’ ears. He is tall, dark, and handsome. [The emphasis is on handsome. If tall were the most impor- tant characteristic, then it should come last.] She is smart, reliable, and experienced. [The emphasis is on experienced;ifsmart is the most important characteristic, then that should be last in the list.] You can also use a dash to set off part of a sentence for emphasis: He is tall, dark, handsome—and married. Here, the stress on the last element is heightened by the dash, which emphasizes the sense of disap- pointment in the sentence. Practice 18 Rewrite the following paragraph to create more variety in sentence structure. The coast of the State of Maine is one of the most irregular in the world. Draw a straight line from the southernmost city in Maine, Kittery, to the northernmost coastal city, Eastport. This line would measure about 225 miles. Follow the coastline between the same two cities. The distance is more than ten times as far. This irregularity is the result of what is called a drowned coastline. The term comes from the glacial activity of the ice age. The glacier descended. It expended enormous force on those mountains. The mountains sank into the sea. Answer Answers will vary. Here’s one possibility: The coast of the State of Maine is one of the most irregular in the world. If you draw a straight line from Kittery, the southernmost city in Maine, to Eastport, the northernmost coastal city, the line would measure about 225 miles. Follow the coastline between the same two cities, however, and the distance is more than ten times as far. This irregularity is the result of what is called a drowned coastline, a term that comes from the glacial activity of the ice age. When the glacier descended, it expended enormous force on those mountains, and the mountains sank into the sea. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 102 AVOIDING AMBIGUITY, WORDINESS, AND REDUNDANCY An ambiguous word or phrase is one that has two or more possible meanings. Take a look at this sentence, for example: That’s a big book. This sentence can be read in two ways: that the book has many pages, or that the cover is large. You can eliminate this ambiguity by revising the sentence in one of the following ways: That book has many pages. That book’s cover is large. Another type of ambiguity happens when a phrase is in the wrong place in a sentence (see page 42 for more information on modifier placement). For example, look at the following sentence: He was standing next to the car on the corner. Here, the word order, not word choice, creates ambiguity. Was he on the corner, or was the car on the corner? Because the phrase on the corner is in the wrong place, the sentence is unclear. It should be revised to read: He was standing on the corner next to the car. or He was standing next to the car parked on the corner. Unclear Pronoun References Ambiguity can also result from unclear pronoun references. (For a pronoun review, see pages 75–76.) Here’s an example: Connor told Mark that he needed glasses. In this sentence, there are two different people he could be referring to: Connor and Mark. Clearly, this sentence needs to be revised. But it would be awkward to say Connor told Mark that Connor needed glasses. A good way out is to use dialogue: Connor told Mark, “I need glasses.” – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 103 Here’s another kind of unclear pronoun reference: I heard the y were going to repave our street. This is an example of a common pronoun error: using a vague “they” when there are specific people behind the action. You may not know exactly who those people are, but you know enough to say something like the following: I heard the t ownship is going to repave our street. There are always people behind their actions, and your sentences should say so. Redundancy and Wordiness Some ACT English Test questions may ask you to identify or eliminate redundancy or unnecessary wordi- ness within sentences. Redundancy is the unnecessary repetition of ideas. Wordiness is the use of several words when a few can express the same idea more clearly and concisely. On the sentence level, in general, less is more. The fewer words you use to get your point across, the bet- ter. Unnecessary words often waste time and cloud meaning. Sentences that don’t have any words to waste are clear and have impact. Wordiness and redundancy typically result from three different causes: ■ The use of unnecessary words or phrases. Redundant: Turn left at the g reen colored house. Correct: Turn left at the g reen house. ■ Unnecessary repetition of nouns or pronouns. Redundant: R iva she couldn’t believe her ears. Correct: R iva couldn’t believe her ears. ■ The use of wordy phrases instead of adverbs. Wordy : She spoke in a v ery convincing manner. Concise: She spoke v ery convincingly. Wordy : He had a car that w as old and rusty . Concise: He had an o ld, rusty car. – ACT ENGLISH TEST PRACTICE– 104 . following. 1. A body of water 2. A house Answers Part A 1. He has a quiet manner. Simile: He is as quiet as a whisper. (As quiet as a mouse is a cliché.) Metaphor: He is a whisper. 2. She was very angry. Simile:. city in Maine, Kittery, to the northernmost coastal city, Eastport. This line would measure about 22 5 miles. Follow the coastline between the same two cities. The distance is more than ten times. southernmost city in Maine, to Eastport, the northernmost coastal city, the line would measure about 22 5 miles. Follow the coastline between the same two cities, however, and the distance is more than