ENGLISH ACT EXAM|QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED ANSWERS|NEW UPDATE 2026/2027|
GUARANTEED SUCCESS|GRADED A+
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "waiting by the back door;"
A. NO CHANGE
B. waiting, by the back door,
C. waiting by the back door,
D. waiting by the back door
CORRECT|ANSWER
A (It provides the best punctuation for the underlined portion. The phrase "waiting by the back door" describes the noun
nets and is essential because it tells which nets the narrator "grew up with." Therefore, no comma should be placed
after nets. The semicolon after the word door is appropriate because semicolons are used between items in a series
when one or more of these items include commas. So, basically since each item also has a semicolon after it in the list,
this item should also have a semicolon after it to keep it the same.)
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "was sitting"
A. NO CHANGE
B. would sit
C. sitting
D. sat
CORRECT|ANSWER
C (The verb form sitting is best here because it creates a parallel structure for all three items in the series: "nets waiting,"
"hip-waders hanging," "a microscope sitting.")
Having studied, my mother is a marine biologist.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "Having studied, my mother"
, A. NO CHANGE
B. As my mother's interest is science, she is
C. My mother's occupation is that of
D. My mother is
CORRECT|ANSWER
D (It offers the clearest, most concise wording for this sentence. "My mother is a marine biologist," is a clear statement
that avoids unnecessary or confusing words.)
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table. Having studied, my mother is a marine
biologist. Our household might have been described as uncooperative. Our meals weren't always served in the expected
order of breakfast, lunch, and supper. Everything was subservient to the disposal of the tides. When the tide was low,
Mom could be found down on the mudflats. When the tide was high, she would be standing on the inlet bridge with her
plankton net.
Which choice would most effectively introduce the rest of this paragraph from this part of the sentence: "Our household
might have been described as uncooperative."
A. NO CHANGE
B. There seemed to be no explanation for why Mom ran our household the way she did.
C. Our household didn't run according to a typical schedule.
CORRECT|ANSWER
C (This is a good introductory sentence because the rest of the paragraph explains how the narrator's household "didn't
run according to a typical schedule." The paragraph goes on to say that "meals weren't always served in the expected
order" and that the mother operated according to the tides, which were not on a typical household schedule. So
basically this sentence explains the rest of the paragraph.)
Everything was subservient to the disposal of the tides.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "was subservient to the disposal of"
A. NO CHANGE
B. was defenseless in the face of
C. depended on
D. trusted in
CORRECT|ANSWER
GUARANTEED SUCCESS|GRADED A+
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "waiting by the back door;"
A. NO CHANGE
B. waiting, by the back door,
C. waiting by the back door,
D. waiting by the back door
CORRECT|ANSWER
A (It provides the best punctuation for the underlined portion. The phrase "waiting by the back door" describes the noun
nets and is essential because it tells which nets the narrator "grew up with." Therefore, no comma should be placed
after nets. The semicolon after the word door is appropriate because semicolons are used between items in a series
when one or more of these items include commas. So, basically since each item also has a semicolon after it in the list,
this item should also have a semicolon after it to keep it the same.)
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "was sitting"
A. NO CHANGE
B. would sit
C. sitting
D. sat
CORRECT|ANSWER
C (The verb form sitting is best here because it creates a parallel structure for all three items in the series: "nets waiting,"
"hip-waders hanging," "a microscope sitting.")
Having studied, my mother is a marine biologist.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "Having studied, my mother"
, A. NO CHANGE
B. As my mother's interest is science, she is
C. My mother's occupation is that of
D. My mother is
CORRECT|ANSWER
D (It offers the clearest, most concise wording for this sentence. "My mother is a marine biologist," is a clear statement
that avoids unnecessary or confusing words.)
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts
covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table. Having studied, my mother is a marine
biologist. Our household might have been described as uncooperative. Our meals weren't always served in the expected
order of breakfast, lunch, and supper. Everything was subservient to the disposal of the tides. When the tide was low,
Mom could be found down on the mudflats. When the tide was high, she would be standing on the inlet bridge with her
plankton net.
Which choice would most effectively introduce the rest of this paragraph from this part of the sentence: "Our household
might have been described as uncooperative."
A. NO CHANGE
B. There seemed to be no explanation for why Mom ran our household the way she did.
C. Our household didn't run according to a typical schedule.
CORRECT|ANSWER
C (This is a good introductory sentence because the rest of the paragraph explains how the narrator's household "didn't
run according to a typical schedule." The paragraph goes on to say that "meals weren't always served in the expected
order" and that the mother operated according to the tides, which were not on a typical household schedule. So
basically this sentence explains the rest of the paragraph.)
Everything was subservient to the disposal of the tides.
Choose the best replacement answer for this part of the sentence: "was subservient to the disposal of"
A. NO CHANGE
B. was defenseless in the face of
C. depended on
D. trusted in
CORRECT|ANSWER
